Steven Kwan of the Cleveland Guardians named the American League Rookie of the Month for April, Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs named the National League Rookie of the Month for April
Outfielder Steven Kwan of the Cleveland Guardians has been voted the American League Rookie of the Month for April, and outfielder Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs has been voted the National League Rookie of the Month for April. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.
Kwan earned his first career monthly award and is the first Cleveland player to win AL Rookie of the Month since Tyler Naquin won consecutive awards in July-August 2016. Suzuki was also awarded his first monthly award and became the Cubs’ third straight NL Rookie of the Month winner, following consecutive wins by Frank Schwindel in August and September of last season.
Steven Kwan, Cleveland Guardians (@skwanzaa)
- Batted .354 (17-for-48) with 10 runs scored, five doubles, a triple, seven RBI, nine walks and a .500 slugging percentage across 15 games played.
- Reached base 18 times in his first five career games, establishing a new MLB record for a player’s first five games since 1901. Also became the first player since 1901 to reach base three-or-more times in each of his first five career games.
- Joined Yermín Mercedes (2021) as the only players since 1933 to record a five-hit performance within his first three career Major League games.
- Did not register a swing and miss in any of his first five big league contests, while seeing 115 pitches at the plate. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that marked the longest streak of pitches without a swing and miss for a batter to start his career since 2000, besting the previous mark in that span of 100 by David Fletcher.
Seiya Suzuki, Chicago Cubs (@seiya.suzuki.1)
- Posted a slash line of .279/.405/.529 with 13 runs scored, 19 hits, five doubles, four home runs, 14 RBI, 14 walks and a stolen base over 21 games.
- Suzuki’s .934 OPS ranked fourth all-time among Cubs rookies in the month of April, trailing only Geovany Soto (1.060 in 2008), Hee-Seop Choi (.986 in 2003) and Tyler Colvin (.965 in 2010). His nine extra-base hits were tied for second-most among Cubs rookies in April (Soto, 14).
- Logged a career-opening nine-game hitting streak to begin 2022. The nine-game run tied Andy Pafko (1943) for the longest career-opening hitting streak by a Cub, and tied Tampa Bay’s Akinori Iwamura (2007) for the longest such streak by a Japanese-born player.
- Was named NL Player of the Week for the period ending April 17th, becoming the Cubs’ first recipient since Frank Schwindel last year for the period ending September 5th.
Others receiving votes for AL Rookie of the Month included starting pitcher Joe Ryan (3-1, 1.17 ERA, 23.0 IP, 25 SO) of the Minnesota Twins; shortstop Jeremy Peña (13 R, 16 H, 8 XBH, 10 RBI) of the Houston Astros; and outfielder Julio Rodríguez (9 R, 15 H, 4 2B, 6 RBI) of the Seattle Mariners.
Others receiving votes for NL Rookie of the Month included starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore (2-0, 1.76 ERA, 20 SO, 6 BB) of the San Diego Padres and first baseman/outfielder Seth Beer (4 R, 15 H, 4 XBH, 8 RBI) of the Arizona Diamondbacks