Bautista named American League Player of Month

One day after being named a starter for this year's All-Star Game, Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista captured his fifth career American League Player of the Month award for June.

Along with hitting .271 with 30 RBIs and 24 runs scored last month, Bautista went on a home run barrage, setting a franchise record for most homers in any single month with 14.

The 14 round-trippers were also the most by any player in a single calendar month since the Rockies' Troy Tulowitzki hit 15 in September 2010. As for the American League, it was the most since Alex Rodriguez also clubbed 14 for the Yankees in April 2007.

After hitting just three homers in April, Bautista started to find his stroke in May and his breakout month in June catapulted him to the top of the Major League leaderboard with 26 home runs overall.

In June alone, the slugger topped all Major Leaguers in homers (14), RBIs (30) and slugging percentage (.750).

Bautista also won Player of the Month honors in both July and August 2010, as well as April and May 2011.