Jason Kipnis of the Cleveland Indians named the Budweiser presents American League Player of the Month for May

Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis has been voted the Budweiser Presents American League Player of the Month for May.

Budweiser, the official beer sponsor of Major League Baseball and sponsor of 23 of 30 clubs, is also the presenting sponsor of the National League Player of the Month Award.

Kipnis batted .429 (51-for-119) with 15 doubles, three triples, 30 runs scored, four home runs and 17 RBI in 29 games to claim his second career AL Player of the Month Award and the first for the Indians since he won his first in June 2013. Jason paced all Major League hitters in batting average, hits, on-base percentage (.511), doubles and runs scored. Among AL leaders, the 28-year-old finished first in slugging percentage (.706) and extra-base hits (22), and tied for first in triples.

The left-handed-hitting Kipnis delivered a historic month for the Tribe, hitting safely in 25 of 29 games. In Cleveland franchise history dating back to 1914, the 51 base hits were most ever in the month of May, surpassing Bobby Avila's 47 in 1954. Additionally, the former second round selection in the 2009 MLB Draft delivered the most hits in a single month by any MLB player since May 2012 (Melky Cabrera, San Francisco Giants). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Northbrook, Illinois native became the first second baseman in Indians history with more than 20 extra-base hits in a single month. His 22 extra-base hits were most by any Indians player in a single month since Travis Hafner had 22 (9 2B, 13 HR) in August 2006. The 2013 AL All-Star became the third player in MLB history with more than 50 hits and 30 runs scored in May, joining Hall of Famers Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers in 1921 (58 H, 40 R) and Al Simmons of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1925 (57 H, 32 R). With a .511 OBP, the five-year-veteran reached base safely 71 times (51 H, 16 BB, 5 HBP), becoming the first Indians player to reach base over 70 times in one calendar month since Hall of Famer Earl Averill (74 times: 38 H, 35 BB, 1 HBP) in July 1934 (per Elias). Kipnis (51 hits), along with teammate Corey Kluber (60 strikeouts), became just the second pair of teammates in Major League history to combine for 60 strikeouts and 50 base hits in a single calendar month. Bobo Newsom (61 strikeouts) and George McQuinn (50 hits) accomplished this feat in August of 1938 for the St. Louis Browns. Led by Kipnis' torrid month at the plate, Cleveland finished with a May record of 17-12, the third-best record in the AL.

Others receiving votes included Prince Fielder (.377, 9 HR, 28 RBI, .656 SLG) of the Texas Rangers; Josh Donaldson (10 HR, 23 RBI, 25 R, .649 SLG) and Chris Colabello (.368, 7 2B, 15 R, .417 OBP) of the Toronto Blue Jays; Brian Dozier (24 R, 10 2B, 7 HR, .630 SLG) of the Minnesota Twins; and Stephen Vogt (7 HR, 23 RBI, .614 SLG) of the Oakland Athletics.

The Budweiser Presents American League Player of the Month, Jason Kipnis, will receive a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved, for his accomplishment.