After an incredible performance at the plate during the Louisville Bats’ series win over the Iowa Cubs last week at Louisville Slugger Field, outfielder Hector Rodriguez was named the International League Player of the Week for the period of June 8-14.
The award is the third for a Louisville player this season after Rece Hinds (March 31-April 5) and Noelvi Marte (April 20-26) took home the same award earlier in the season.
This is Rodriguez’s third career weekly award and first since last season, when he was twice named Southern League Player of the Week during the first half of the season with Double-A Chattanooga.
Rodriguez, 22, has spent the entire season to date with the Bats and has been one of the team’s most consistent hitters, batting .287 (78-for-272) with 15 home runs, 45 RBI, 12 doubles, 55 runs scored, and a .526 slugging percentage in 67 games.
During the series against Iowa, Rodriguez was the leader for Louisville, batting .370 (10-for-27) with four home runs, 14 RBI, 10 runs scored, seven extra-base hits, and 26 total bases in six games played.
After a hitless series opener on Tuesday night, Rodriguez rewrote the Bats history books on Wednesday night. In the Bats’ 20-5 rout of Iowa, Rodriguez hit for the cycle with a first inning single, fourth inning home run, fifth inning double, and capped it off with a hustle triple in the sixth. He added a career-high seven RBI while scoring three runs in the wild victory. The cycle is the first by a Bats player since Matt McLain on May 4, 2023 at Omaha and the first by a Louisville player at home since Scott Schebler on July 26, 2016.
The next night, Rodriguez continued to mash with two more homers, driving in five while scoring four runs and going 4-for-6 in another 20-run performance by the Bats in the 20-3 win. That gave Rodriguez 12 RBI over a two-game period as the Bats became the first MiLB team since at least 2005 to score 20 or more runs in back-to-back games. That feat has only been accomplished twice in MLB history, first by the Pittsburgh Pirates from June 20-22, 1925 and later by the Boston Red Sox from June 7-8, 1950.
Rodriguez added a double and an RBI in the Bats’ come-from-behind win on Saturday night before ending his week with a two-run homer in the fourth inning in Sunday afternoon’s series finale.
Currently ranked as the Reds’ number five prospect according to MLB.com, Rodriguez currently ranks among the International League leaders in runs (1st, 55), hits (1st, 78), total bases (T-1st, 143), triples (T-2nd, 4) extra-base hits (T-3rd, 31), home runs (T-4th, 15), and RBI (T-8th, 45).
Rodriguez is currently playing for the Bats for the second consecutive season. He was acquired by the Reds along with RHP Jose Acuna in the deal that sent LHP Phillip Diehl and OF Tyler Naquin to the New York Mets on July 28, 2022. He was originally signed by the Mets as a 16-year-old international free agent out of the Dominican Republic on January 15, 2021.
The Bats (36-31) begin a six-game road series against the Gwinnett Stripers (35-33) on Tuesday night. First pitch at Gwinnett Field is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Nick Curran will have the call on Sports Talk 790 AM.