Boston Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. has been voted the Budweiser Presents American League Player of the Month for May.
Budweiser, the official beer sponsor of Major League Baseball and sponsor of 25 of 30 clubs, is also the presenting sponsor of the National League Player of the Month Award.
Bradley batted .381 (37-for-97) with 17 runs scored, seven doubles, eight home runs, 16 RBI and two stolen bases over 27 games to claim his first career Player of the Month Award, and the first for the Red Sox since Dustin Pedroia took home AL Player of the Month honors in July 2011. Among AL leaders in May with a minimum of 70 at-bats, Jackie finished first in on-base percentage (.474), second in batting average and slugging percentage (.701), third in walks (17), tied for fifth in home runs, sixth in hits and eighth in RBI.
Bradley's 29-game hitting streak (April 24th - May 25th) is tied with Johnny Damon (2005) for the fourth-longest in Red Sox history. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the University of South Carolina product became the first Major Leaguer with a hitting streak of at least 29 games, while batting sixth-or-lower in the batting order of each game since Hall of Famer Joe Gordon of the New York Yankees in 1942. During his sensational run, the 40th overall pick in the 2011 MLB Draft paced the Majors in batting average (.415), slugging percentage (.783), OPS (1.271) and RBI (30). Additionally, with teammate Xander Bogaerts in the midst of a 25-game hitting streak, the Red Sox are the first team in AL history to have two different players record a hitting streak of at least 20 games before June 1st (Elias). Bradley, who was named the AL Player of the Week for the period ending May 15th, delivered 13 RBI in Boston's three-game series against the Oakland Athletics (May 9th - 11th), the most by a Red Sox player in a three-game set since Nomar Garciaparra drove in 14 runs in a series against the Seattle Mariners in May 1999. Two months into the season, Boston's high-powered offense ranks first in the Majors in batting average (.296), on-base percentage (.360), slugging percentage (.496), runs scored (317), hits (562), doubles (136) and RBI (305). The Red Sox lead the AL East by 2.0 games with a 32-21 record.
Others receiving votes for AL Player of the Month included Bradley's teammates Bogaerts (.395, 24 R, 9 2B, 20 RBI) and David Ortiz (.347, 12 2B, 9 HR, 28 RBI); Mike Trout (.340, 26 R, 7 HR, 27 RBI) of the Los Angeles Angels; Eric Hosmer (.333, 20 R, 7 HR, 27 RBI) of the Kansas City Royals; Khris Davis (16 R, 11 HR, 26 RBI, .640 SLG) of the Oakland Athletics; Jose Altuve (.345, 21 R, 40 H, 6 SB) of the Houston Astros; Miguel Cabrera (.333, 16 R, 8 HR, 20 RBI) of the Detroit Tigers; and Kyle Seager (.361, 17 R, 10 2B, 20 RBI) of the Seattle Mariners.
The Budweiser Presents American League Player of the Month, Jackie Bradley Jr., will receive a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved, for his accomplishment.