Chicago White Sox first baseman José Abreu has been named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending May 28th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Abreu batted .452 (14-for-31) with seven runs scored, three doubles, two home runs and five RBI over seven games to claim his fourth career AL Player of the Week Award, last winning on September 20, 2015. Among his AL counterparts, José finished the period first in hits and total bases (23); tied for second in runs scored and extra-base hits (5); third in batting average; seventh in slugging percentage (.742); and tied for ninth in RBI. This is Chicago's first weekly honor since Jose's most recent award in 2015.
In an Interleague tilt on May 23rd against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Abreu went 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored and the 100th home run of his four-year Major League career. The Cienfuegos, Cuba native became the 22nd player in club history to reach the milestone, and now trails Adam Dunn and Ray Durham (106) for 20th on the White Sox' all-time home run list. In the following contest against the D-backs, the 2014 AL Rookie of the Year went 4-for-5 with two runs scored, a double, home run and three RBI. During his excellent night at the plate, Abreu matched his career high with four hits in the game, and hit home runs in consecutive outings for the second time this season (also May 3rd-4th). Additionally, the 2014 AL All-Star now ranks 11th all-time in home runs among Cuban-born players, trailing Tony González, who ranks 10th after belting 103 homers from 1960-71, primarily for the Philadelphia Phillies. Abreu, who has hit every home run this season away from the Windy City, leads the Majors with 11 road home runs. The slugging first baseman finished his award-winning week with a multi-hit effort against the Detroit Tigers, his fourth multi-hit contest of the week. The two-hit effort capped a 10-game hitting streak, which saw him slash .444/.457/.733 with 11 runs scored, four doubles, three home runs and seven RBI. Led by Abreu, the White Sox have won seven of their last 11 contests and now trail the Minnesota Twins by 3.5 games for first place in the competitive AL Central.
In two starts last week, starting pitcher Lance McCullers (2-0, 1.64 ERA, 11.0 IP, 13 SO) of the Houston Astros was also impressive. Sunday's victory for the 23-year-old right-hander was his fourth consecutive win and capped off an impressive month of May, which saw him go 4-0 with a 0.99 ERA and 37 strikeouts over 36.1 innings pitched. From May 6th-23rd, McCullers logged 24.0 consecutive innings without allowing a run, the longest scoreless innings streak by an AL starting pitcher this season. Other noteworthy performances last week included J.C. Ramirez (2-0, 1.32 ERA, 13.2 IP, 8 SO) of the Los Angeles Angels; Led Lowrie (.500, 6 R, 5 2B, .778 SLG) of the Oakland Athletics; Xander Bogaerts (.400, 8 R, 3 XBH, 6 RBI) of the Boston Red Sox; and Dellin Betances (3 SV, 0.00 ERA, 3.2 IP, 7 SO) and Michael Pineda (2-0, 2.92 ERA, 12.1 IP, 11 SO) of the New York Yankees.
In recognition of his American League Player of the Week Award, José Abreu will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.