Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers named the American League Player of the Week

Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre has been named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending July 7th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.

Beltre batted .478 (11-for-23) with two doubles, four home runs, five RBI and four runs scored over six games to claim his fourth career weekly honor (last accomplished for the week ending August 26, 2012). Adrian led all Major League hitters in homers and total bases (25), and among his A.L. counterparts, he stood third in batting average and on-base percentage (.520), and was tied for fourth in hits.

On July 4th against the Seattle Mariners, the right-handed-hitting Beltre slugged a pair of solo homers as part of a 3-for-4 showing at the dish to lead Texas to a 5-4 triumph at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The multi-homer effort was the 34-year-old's first of the season and the 24th of his 16-year career, last achieving the feat against the Baltimore Orioles on August 22, 2012 when he had his lone career regular season three-homer game. Adrian snapped a 22-game homerless drought dating back to June 9th, the longest in his Rangers tenure, and also broke a 17-game homerless streak at home. Of note, the two blasts gave Beltre 362 for his career, moving him past Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio (361) for the 75th spot on the all-time home run list. The next night, the Dominican Republic native connected on his third home run in two days, this one of the two-run variety, as the Rangers doubled up the in-state rival Houston Astros, 10-5, in Arlington. Beltre added three walks (one intentional) to his 2-for-3 performance. On Sunday, the threetime All-Star homered in one of four trips to the plate as Texas edged Houston, 5-4, to take two-of-three in the Lone Star State showdown. On the season, Beltre is batting .308 with 21 doubles, 18 home runs, 47 RBI and 50 runs scored. He is fourth in the A.L. in total bases (182), tied for fifth in hits (107) and is tied for sixth in at-bats (347) and extra-base hits (39). He enters play today riding a nine-game hitting streak, batting .417 (15-for-36) with two doubles, four homers, six RBI and five runs scored during the string.

Other noteworthy performances last week included 2013 A.L. All-Stars Robinson Cano (.375, 3 HR, 10 RBI) of the New York Yankees and Torii Hunter (.444, 12 H, 2 HR, 11 RBI) of the Detroit Tigers; Kyle Seager (.545, 12 H, 2 HR, 5 RBI) of the Seattle Mariners; and Jered Weaver (2-0, 0.66 ERA, 11 SO) of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

In recognition of his American League Player of the Week Award, Adrian Beltre will be awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time, the leader in licensed sports watches, available at MLB.com.