Cleveland Indians infielder José Ramírez has been named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending September 3rd. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Ramírez posted a slash line of .538/.556/1.308 with seven runs scored, 14 hits, six doubles, a triple, four home runs, six RBI and two stolen bases over six games played to earn his second career AL Player of the Week Award after claiming his first honor earlier this season for the period ending June 18th. Ramírez is the first American Leaguer, and the second in the Majors (also Giancarlo Stanton), to win a pair of weekly awards this season. Among AL leaders, José finished the period first in hits, doubles, extra-base hits (11), total bases (34) and slugging percentage; tied for first in home runs; second in batting average; third in on-base percentage; and tied for fourth in stolen bases.
On August 28th against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, the 24-year-old posted his fourth multi-home run game of the season (also: April 15th, June 17th and July 2nd) to propel the Tribe to a 6-2 victory over the Yankees. With the long ball, the Bani, Dominican Republic native became the fourth different player in Indians history to post at least 40 doubles and 20 homers in a season prior to turning 25 years old, joining Hal Trosky (1934, 36), Manny Ramirez (1996) and Grady Sizemore (2006). In addition, José's round-tripper was his 20th of the season, becoming the fourth Indians player this season to reach the milestone (also: Edwin Encarnacion, Francisco Lindor and Carlos Santana). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this marks the first time in 17 years in which Cleveland had at least four different players with 20-or-more home runs prior to September. Travis Fryman, David Justice, Jim Thome and the aforementioned Manny Ramirez accomplished the feat for Cleveland during its 90-win season in 2000. The 2017 All-Star saved his best performance for Sunday afternoon, batting 5-for-5 with three runs scored, three doubles, two home runs and three RBI. Per Elias, Ramírez became the 13th player in Major League history with five extra-base hits in a single game, and only the fifth Major Leaguer to accumulate three doubles and a pair of homers in one contest, joining Jackie Bradley Jr. (2015), Kelly Shoppach (2008), Steve Garvey (1977) and Hall of Famer Willie Stargell (1970). Entering play today, Ramírez is pacing the AL with 76 extra-base hits, nine extra-base hits above the next-highest total (José Abreu & Justin Upton - 67), and the most for an Indians player since Sizemore (77) in 2008. The first-place Indians (81-56) won each game during José's excellent week at the plate, and are in the midst of a 12-game winning streak dating back to August 24th.
José's All-Star teammate, starting pitcher Corey Kluber (2-0, 1.69 ERA, 16.0 IP, 14 SO), posted a pair of strong outings for the Indians last week. Since the All-Star break, Kluber, who was named AL Pitcher of the Month for August over the weekend, has compiled a 7-1 record with a 2.27 ERA and 99 strikeouts over 10 starts and 75.1 innings pitched. Led by their staff ace, Indians starting pitchers rank first among AL Clubs in ERA (3.77), strikeouts (900) and wins (65). Other noteworthy performances last week included starting pitcher Dylan Bundy (1-0, CG SHO, 12 SO) and backstop Welington Castillo (.500, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 1.042 SLG) of the Baltimore Orioles; and two-time AL MVP Mike Trout (.625, 11 R, 5 XBH, .714 OBP) of the Los Angeles Angels.
In recognition of his American League Player of the Week Award, José Ramírez will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.