All-Star starting pitcher Justin Verlander of the Houston Astros has been named the American League Player of the Week presented by W.B. Mason for the period ending September 16th. The announcement was made earlier on MLB Network.
Across two starts, Verlander compiled a perfect 2-0 record while posting a 1.93 ERA over 14.0 innings pitched to claim his second AL Player of the Week Award this season (also April 15th), and the eighth of his career. The 2011 AL MVP tallied 21 strikeouts and issued just two free passes along with nine hits in two dominant starts last week. Justin, a product of Old Dominion University, paced his AL counterparts in innings pitched and strikeouts. The last Astros hurler to take home weekly honors other than Verlander was Mike Fiers on August 23, 2015.
In his return to Comerica Park on September 10th against his former Club, the Detroit Tigers, Verlander tossed 7.0 innings of two-run ball with 10 strikeouts, permitting six hits and one walk en route to earning his first win against Detroit. With the performance, the seven-time All-Star reached the 15-win mark for the 10th time in his career, and is the only active Major League pitcher to have 10 double-digit win seasons. In the second outing of his award-winning week, the second overall selection of the 2004 MLB Draft earned the win after limiting the Arizona Diamondbacks to just one run on three hits with 11 punchouts. The performance was his 10th this season in which he recorded at least 10 strikeouts while issuing no more than one walk, extending his franchise record for such games in a single season. In addition, the 35-year-old notched his 11th career season of at least 200 innings, joining Mark Buehrle (14) and Hall of Famer Greg Maddux (12) as the only pitchers with as many such seasons in the Wild Card era (since 1994). Entering play today, Verlander, who has matched his career high from 2009 with 269 strikeouts, and his All-Star rotation-mate Gerrit Cole (260) rank first and second in the AL in strikeouts, respectively. The duo are the first pair of right-handed pitchers since at least 1900 to each surpass 250 punchouts in a season for the same Club.
Shortstop Didi Gregorius (.333, 7 R, 4 HR, 10 RBI) of the New York Yankees also posted a strong week at the plate. On Saturday against the Toronto Blue Jays, Gregorius logged his fifth multi-homer game of the season, culminating with his fourth home run in as many days. Following the performance, the 28-year-old established a new career high with 26 round-trippers on the season, and set a new franchise record for home runs by a shortstop in a single campaign. Other noteworthy performances last week included shortstop Adalberto Mondesi (.419, 13 H, 7 RBI, 5 SB) and second baseman Whit Merrifield (.310, 10 R, 4 XBH, 5 SB) of the Kansas City Royals, and outfielder Mitch Haniger (.407, 5 R, 4 XBH, 4 RBI) of the Seattle Mariners.
In recognition of his American League Player of the Week Award, Justin Verlander will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.