Barraclough on roll before deadline

MIAMI — Marlins closer Kyle Barraclough was the National League’s best reliever in June, which makes him a trade target in July.

The hard-throwing righthander was chosen NL Reliever of the Month, an honor that will assume a prominent place in his collection, partly because there’s little competition.

“I don’t really have many items on my trophy shelf,” Barraclough said Monday. “A high school championship, maybe. I try not to pay much attention to individual awards. I like to win games.”

As the trade deadline approaches, Barraclough’s recent dominance makes him attractive to contending teams looking to shore up their bullpens. And with the Marlins in a rebuilding mode, they’ll listen to offers.

Barraclough allowed one hit in 36 at-bats in June, tossed 12 scoreless innings and converted all seven save chances while the Marlins went 14-14, their best month this season.

Barraclough began this week on a streak of 20 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings dating to May 8. He had a .085 batting average against for the season, lowest in the majors. His ERA of 0.99 was fourth-lowest.

He moved into the closer’s role a month ago for the first time in his career, and the change brought stability to a bullpen that had been one of Miami’s weakest areas.

“Kyle has been great,” manager Don Mattingly said. “Getting that reliability back there has been really good for us.”

Barraclough has a fastball that clocks in the upper 90s, and in 2016-17 he averaged 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings. His whiffs are down slightly this year, but walks also are down thanks to improved command.