Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer has been named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending September 10th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Hosmer batted .538 (14-for-26) with six runs scored, three doubles, two home runs and eight RBI over seven games played to earn his first career AL Player of the Week Award. Among his AL counterparts, Eric finished his strong week first in batting average and hits; second in on-base percentage (.586); third in total bases (23) and slugging percentage (.885); tied for fourth in RBI; and tied for fifth in extra-base hits (5). This is Kansas City's first weekly award of the 2017 season, and its first since Kendrys Morales a year ago for the week ending September 11, 2016.
On Monday against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park, Hosmer, a three-time Gold Glove Award winner, went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run and an RBI single, plating three of Kansas City's seven runs to lead his Club to a 7-6 victory. On Friday night against the Minnesota Twins, the South Florida native notched his second consecutive multi-hit effort, including his second homer of the week. The blast was his 24th on the season, one shy of matching his career best set last season during his All-Star campaign. In Kansas City's final game of the week yesterday against the Twins at Target Field, the third overall selection of the 2008 MLB Draft (by Kansas City) went 4-for-4 with two runs scored, a pair of doubles and an RBI. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 2016 Ted Williams All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet winner tallied his eighth consecutive hit in as many at-bats, matching All-Star Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros, outfielder Gerardo Parra of the Colorado Rockies and second baseman Logan Forsythe of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second longest streak this season. First baseman Danny Valencia of the Seattle Mariners holds the 2017 record with a streak of nine at-bats. In addition, the streak is the second longest of its kind in Club history, matching Amos Otis (1970), Hall of Famer George Brett (1980), Mike Sweeney (2005) and Mark Teahen (2006). Joe Randa holds the franchise record after hitting safely in 10 straight at-bats during the 1999 season. Overall, the seven-year veteran notched multi-hit efforts in four consecutive games to conclude his award-winning week, batting 11-for-16 (.786) with two doubles, a homer and three RBI to close out his excellent week at the plate.
Rookie first baseman Matt Olson (.357, 8 R, 5 HR, 8 RBI) was impressive for the Oakland Athletics. The 23-year-old logged his second career multi-homer game last Monday, and homered in three consecutive games (September 3rd-5th) for the second time in his career (also August 27th-30th). With the round-tripper, Olson amassed 15 homers over his first 53 career games, the second most by a player over his first 53 contests in A's history (Mark McGwire - 18). Additionally, with a pair of home runs over the weekend, his 17 homers are the most for an A's player at age 23-or-younger since Eric Chavez (32) in 2001. Other noteworthy performances last week included first baseman José Abreu (.321, 7 R, 4 HR, 8 RBI) of the Chicago White Sox, who became the seventh player this season to hit for the cycle on Saturday; starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco (1-0, 1.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 9 SO) of the Cleveland Indians; starting pitcher Alex Cobb (2-0, 1.69 ERA, 10.2 IP, 12 SO) of the Tampa Bay Rays; shortstop Elvis Andrus (.417, 5 R, 6 XBH, 7 RBI) of the Texas Rangers; and shortstop Didi Gregorius (.385, 6 R, 5 XBH, 10 RBI) of the New York Yankees.
In recognition of his American League Player of the Week Award, Eric Hosmer will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.