Evan Gattis of the Atlanta Braves voted National League Rookie of the Month for May

Atlanta Braves rookie utilityman Evan Gattis has been voted National League Rookie of the Month for the month of May. This is his second monthly award after being voted N.L. Rookie of the Month for April. Gattis becomes the first player to win back-to-back N.L. Rookie of the Month honors since his Atlanta teammate Jason Heyward won in April and May 2010. In 22 games last month, Gattis led all Major League rookies with 16 RBI while his six home runs were tied for first with Padres infielder Jedd Gyorko. Gattis ranked among Major League rookie leaders with 11 extra-base hits (T-2nd), 13 runs scored (T-3rd), 43 total bases (T-3rd) and five doubles (T-5th) while hitting .303 (20-for-63) for the month. The Texas native slugged .683 while getting on-base at a .362 clip.

Gattis capped his second consecutive award-winning month by going 3-for-4 in Atlanta's 11-3 win over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on May 30th as the N.L. East-leading Braves took the rubber match of a three-game set. The day before, the 26-year-old helped power the Braves to victory by clubbing a game-tying leadoff homer to start the sixth inning, as Atlanta came from behind to earn a 7-6 extra-inning victory. The home run was Gattis' 12th of the year, moving him into a tie for fifth-most among all N.L. hitters while ranking first among Major League rookies. The solo shot gave the right-handed-hitting slugger 32 RBI on the season, which also ranks first among big league rookies. The 23rd round pick in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft, who has spent time at catcher, first base, left field and designated hitter this season, went 4-for-6 during the month of May as pinch-hitter. On May 21st against the Minnesota Twins, after being summoned off the bench by Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, Gattis clubbed a two-out, game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, paving the way to a 5-4 extra-inning victory.

Other rookies receiving votes included Miami's Marcell Ozuna (.330, HR, 9 2B, 11 RBI, 3 SB, .462 SLG, .372 OBP); Trevor Rosenthal (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 20 SO, 11.1 IP, 12 G) and Shelby Miller (2-1, 1.99 ERA, SHO, 32 SO, 31.2 IP) of the St. Louis Cardinals; Gyorko (.303, 6 HR, 12 RBI, 6 2B, 20 R, .545 SLG, .361 OBP); Hyun-Jin Ryu (3-1, 2.38 ERA, SHO, 21 SO, 34.0 IP) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; and Arizona's Didi Gregorius (.293, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 14 R, 4 2B, 2 3B, .353 OBP).

The National League Rookie of the Month for May 2013, Evan Gattis, will receive a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved, to commemorate his performance.