New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres has been voted American League Rookie of the Month for May, and Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Austin Meadows has been voted National League Rookie of the Month for the second month of the 2018 season. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
In 24 games as the Yankees second baseman, Torres posted a slash line of .317/.374/.659 with 13 runs scored, 26 hits, a double, nine home runs, 24 RBI and six walks to claim his first monthly honor. With a minimum of 30 at-bats, Gleyber finished his strong month among AL rookies first in home runs, RBI and slugging percentage; tied for first in extra-base hits (10); second in hits and batting average; third in on-base percentage; and tied for third in runs scored. The right-handed-hitting slugger is the first Yankee to take home monthly rookie honors since his All-Star teammate Aaron Judge last season for the month of September.
Torres began his award-winning month of May with a nine-game hitting streak from May 2nd-11th. Over the course of his hot stretch at the plate, the young middle infielder hit .400 (12-for-30) with six runs scored, three home runs and 10 RBI. Torres became the youngest player in Yankees lore to record a nine-game hitting streak since Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle, who notched a 10-game hitting streak from June 24-July 3, 1952 at 20 years and 257 days old. On May 25th against the Los Angeles Angels at Yankee Stadium, Torres, who earned AL Player of the Week honors for the period ending May 27th, went 2-for-3 with his ninth home run on the season. The Venezuelan native homered in his fourth consecutive game, becoming the youngest player in AL history to accomplish the feat. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, at 21 years and 163 days old, Torres became the fourth-youngest player since 1900 to homer in four straight games, older than just Miguel Cabrera in 2004 (20 years, 262 days), Andruw Jones in 1998 (21, 139) and Albert Pujols in 2001 (21, 147). The four-game streak began in grand fashion on May 21st after Gleyber logged the first multi-homer game of his career. At 21 years and 159 days, the right-handed-hitting rookie became the second-youngest player in franchise history to post a multi-homer game, behind Mantle, who clubbed a pair of homers on August 11, 1952 when he was 20 years and 296 days old. Torres, who was acquired by the Yankees in the 2016 trade for Aroldis Chapman, is the youngest Yankee to ever blast nine round-trippers in his first 28 career games.
Starting pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (2-0, 2.16 ERA, 31 SO; 8 XBH, 9 R) of the Los Angeles Angels also received votes for AL Rookie of the Month after his strong period of May.
Meadows batter .409 (18-for-44) with nine runs scored, three doubles, a triple, four home runs, seven RBI and three stolen bases across 13 games played to earn his first monthly award. Among NL rookie hitters with at least 25 at-bats, Meadows finished his awardwinning month first in slugging percentage (.795); tied for first in home runs and extra-base hits (8); second in batting average and onbase percentage (.426); tied for fourth in runs scored; and tied for fifth in hits, doubles and RBI. Austin is the first Pirates player to claim the NL Rookie of the Month Award since Jung Ho Kang in July 2015.
Meadows began his big league career with multi-hit games in five of his first seven contests, including his first game as a Major Leaguer on May 18th against the San Diego Padres. During a three-game stretch from May 23rd-25th, the ninth overall selection in the 2013 MLB Draft hit .500 (7-for-14) with four runs scored, two doubles, a triple, one home run and two RBI. In addition, the contest on May 25th capped off a streak of five consecutive games in which the young outfielder scored a run. On May 29th against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park, Meadows went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, a double and one home run. With the performance, the Georgia native batted .439 (18-for-41) with three doubles, a triple, four home runs, seven RBI and three stolen bases over the course of his first 11 Major League games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 23-year-old became the fifth player in the Majors since 1961 to bat .400 with at least four round-trippers in his first 40 at-bats, joining Pujols, Jeff Francoeur, Brian Giles and Yasiel Puig.
Starting pitcher Walker Buehler (2-1, 2.32 ERA, 31.0 IP, 37 SO) of the Los Angeles Dodgers also posted a deserving month. On May 4th against the San Diego Padres at Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey in Mexico, Buehler led a quartet of pitchers, including Tony Cingrani, Yimi García and Adam Liberatore to throw the first combined no-hitter in Dodgers franchise history, and the 12th in Major League history. In addition, Buehler became the first hurler age 23-or-younger in Dodgers history, and the 11th overall since 1908, to register at least 31.0 innings pitched and 37 strikeouts with five-or-fewer walks in a single calendar month. New York Mets starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard was the last to accomplish the feat, doing so in May during his All-Star 2016 campaign. Others receiving votes for NL Rookie of the Month included Seranthony Dominguez (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 15 SO, 0 BB) of the Philadelphia Phillies; outfielder Harrison Bader (.310, 12 R, 4 HR, 7 RBI) and shortstop Yairo Muñoz (.424, 14 H, 2 HR, 9 RBI) of the St. Louis Cardinals; third baseman Brian Anderson (.308, 17 R, 33 H, 7 2B) and starting pitcher Caleb Smith (3-2, 2.60 ERA, 27.2 IP, 28 SO) of the Miami Marlins; and relief pitcher Dan Winkler (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 10.1 IP, 15 SO) of the Atlanta Braves.
In recognition of their Rookie of the Month Awards, Gleyber Torres and Austin Meadows will each receive a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved, for their accomplishments.