The Orioles today announced that MANNY MACHADO has been voted the winner of the 2016 Louis M. Hatter Most Valuable Oriole Award by members of the local media who cover the team on a regular basis. He will be recognized for his accomplishments in an on-field ceremony prior to Sunday's regular season finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Machado enters play today batting .300/.350/.546 (181-for-604) with 39 doubles, one triple, 36 home runs, 93 RBI, and 103 runs scored, having already set career-highs in home runs and RBI. He has registered eight game-winning RBI and hit five game-winning home runs this season. Machado ranks tied for sixth in Major League Baseball with 76 extra-base hits and tied for ninth with 39 doubles. Among American League hitters, he ranks fifth in hits, tied for eighth in home runs, tied for ninth in multi-hit games (52), and 11th in batting average. He was named the American League Player of the Month for April, batting .344 (33-for-96) with 10 doubles, seven home runs, 16 RBI, and 20 runs scored over 23 games which also included a career-high 16-game hitting streak from April 4-23, the first Oriole to hit safely in the club's first 16 games of a season. Machado was elected as the starting American League third baseman in the 2016 All-Star Game, his third career All-Star selection (also, 2013 and 2015).
To date, Machado has logged four games with five or more RBI in 2016, matching the single-season club record held by MIGUEL TEJADA (2004) and JIM GENTILE (1960). On August 7 at Chicago (AL), he became the second player in Major League history to homer in each of the first three innings of a game, finishing the contest 3-for-6 with three home runs, three runs scored, and a career-high seven RBI. His three-homer game was the 21st in club history (16th different Oriole) and his seven-RBI game was the 19th in club history (14th different Oriole).
Machado slugged his 100th career home run on August 30 vs. Toronto, becoming the youngest Oriole to reach the 100 career home run plateau at age 24.055, surpassing EDDIE MURRAY who did so at age 24.177 in 1980. Entering today's game, he has hit 25 homers as a third baseman this season and 11 home runs as a shortstop, the second player in Major League history to homer at least 20 times as a third baseman and 10 times as a shortstop in the same season.
The Most Valuable Oriole Award is named in honor of the late LOU HATTER, a former sportswriter for The Baltimore Sun who covered the Orioles for 27 years. Balloting for the Most Valuable Oriole Award is conducted with voting on a 5-3-1 basis. Also receiving votes were BRAD BRACH, ZACH BRITTON, CHRIS DAVIS, ADAM JONES, CHRIS TILLMAN, and MARK TRUMBO.