The Kansas City Royals announced today that first baseman Eric Hosmer and left-handed pitcher Danny Duffy have been named Royals Player and Pitcher of the Month, respectively, for the month of July. The awards are determined by a local media vote.
Hosmer hit .379/.434/.592 (39-for-103) in July and ranked among the American League leaders with 39 hits (second), 22 runs (tied for second), a .434 on-base percentage (fourth), 21 RBI (tied for fourth) and a .379 batting average (fifth). He recorded multiple hits in 14 of his 26 games, including a career-high tying five hits and a grand slam on July 26 at Detroit. On that night, he became just the 13th player since 1913 to record at least five runs, five hits and six RBI. This is Hosmer's 10th career Royals Player of the Month honor (second this season), third most since the award was first given in 1995, trailing only Alex Gordon and Mike Sweeney (13 each).
Duffy led the Royals with three wins and 31 strikeouts in July. Among Major League qualified pitchers, he tied for third with 39.1 innings and ranked sixth with a 7.75 strikeout-to-walk ratio (four walks). He recorded at least 7.0 innings in three of his six starts and held opponents to two-or-fewer runs four times. One of his two losses came on July 15 vs. Texas, in which he became the 12th Royal (13th time) to lose despite allowing no more than one run in at least 8.1 innings. This is Duffy's fourth career Royals Pitcher of the Month award and third in the last two seasons, after earning the honor in June and July of 2016.