Second baseman Gleyber Torres of the New York Yankees has been named the American League Player of the Week presented by W.B. Mason for the period ending May 27th.
Torres posted a slash line of .368/.429/1.158 with five runs scored, seven hits, five home runs and nine RBI over six games played to earn his first career Player of the Week Award. Among qualified AL leaders, Gleyber finished the period first in home runs and slugging percentage; tied for first in RBI; tied for second in total bases (22); tied for eighth in runs scored; and ninth in batting average. This is New York's second weekly award of the 2018 season, and the first since Gleyber's double play partner Didi Gregorius on April 30th.
On Friday against the Los Angeles Angels at Yankee Stadium, Torres went 2-for-3 with his ninth home run on the season. The Venezuelan native homered in his fourth consecutive game, becoming the youngest player in AL history to accomplish the feat. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, at 21 years and 163 days old, Torres became the fourth-youngest player since 1900 to homer in four straight games, older than just Miguel Cabrera in 2004 (20 years, 262 days), Andruw Jones in 1998 (21, 139) and Albert Pujols in 2001 (21, 147). In addition, Torres became the second rookie in team history to homer in four straight contests, joining his teammate Gary Sánchez (September 17-21, 2016). The four-game streak began in grand fashion on May 21st after Gleyber logged the first multi-homer game of his career. At 21 years and 159 days, the right-handed-hitting rookie became the second-youngest player in franchise history to post a multi-homer game, behind Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle, who clubbed a pair of homers on August 11, 1952 when he was 20 years and 296 days old. Torres, who was acquired by the Yankees in the 2016 trade for Aroldis Chapman, is the youngest Yankee to ever blast nine round-trippers in his first 28 career games. Now 31 games into his young career, Torres enters play today with a slash line of .317/.379/.606 to go along with 16 runs scored, 33 hits, three doubles, nine homers and 24 RBI.
Reigning AL Most Valuable Player Jose Altuve (.429, 7 R, 5 XBH, 8 RBI) also enjoyed a strong week at the plate for the Houston Astros. In a pair of games over the weekend, the All-Star second baseman tallied eight hits, including a hit in 10 consecutive at-bats. The Venezuelan native eclipsed his own Club record of eight at-bats, set last season from June 23rd-24th, and finished two hits shy of the Major League record, established by Detroit's Walt Dropo (July 14-15, 1952). Other noteworthy performances last week included first baseman José Abreu (.387, 4 R, 7 2B, 5 RBI) of the Chicago White Sox; outfielder Shin-Soo Choo (.563 OBP, 5 R, 3 XBH) and first baseman Ronald Guzmán (.364, 6 R, 4 HR, 9 RBI) of the Texas Rangers; starting pitcher Jason Hammel (2-0, 0.73 ERA, 12.1 IP, 16 SO) of the Kansas City Royals; first baseman Yonder Alonso (.412, 5 R, 3 XBH, 7 RBI) of the Cleveland Indians; and starter Mike Leake (1-0, 1.23 ERA, 14.2 IP, 0 BB) of the Seattle Mariners.
In recognition of his American League Player of the Week Award, Gleyber Torres will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.