Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers named the American League Player of the month for May

Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton 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 23 of 30 clubs, is also the presenting sponsor of the National League Player of the Month Award.

Hamilton batted .344 (33-for-96) with six doubles, 12 home runs, 32 RBI and 19 runs scored in 25
games during May to win his second consecutive monthly award, and the fifth such honor of his six-year career. In addition, it marks the third straight month a Texas player has won after teammate Adrian Beltre topped the voting last September. It is also the second time that Josh has won in back-to-back months to start a season after being named A.L. Player of the Month in both April and May 2008, a first-ever occurrence for the league. Among A.L. leaders in May, the four-time All-Star finished first in home runs, RBI, slugging percentage (.781) and total bases (75), tied for first in extra-base hits (18), was fourth in batting average and seventh in on-base percentage (.405). The 2010 A.L. MVP’s 12 homers in May bested the Club’s old mark of 10 for the month and he became just the third player in team history to reach monthly minimums of 12 home runs and 32 RBI, joining Juan Gonzalez (15 & 38 in July 1996) and Rafael Palmeiro (15 & 39 in August 1999).

After an outstanding April in which Hamilton batted .395 (34-or-86) with nine homers and 25 RBI in his first 22 games of the year, the slugger stayed hot at the plate heading into the season’s second month, hitting safely in his first 13 games of May as part of a season-long 16-game hitting streak. Over the stretch from April 27th-May 16th, the 31-year-old hit a blistering .424 (25-for-59) with 10 homers and 26 RBI. The Raleigh, North Carolina native reached historic proportions in the eighth game of the string on May 8th, going 5-for-5 with a double, four home runs, eight RBI, four runs scored and 18 total bases against Baltimore at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The left-handed-hitting Hamilton tied Major League records for homers and extra-base hits in a game and established a new A.L. mark for total bases, falling one shy of tying Shawn Green’s Major League record of 19 on May 23, 2002 for the Los Angeles Dodgers. As Hamilton rounded out May with seven RBI in his last four games, including a pair of three-RBI performances, the first overall pick in the 1999 First-Year Player Draft (by Tampa Bay) became just the second player in the Majors since 2002 to reach at
least 57 RBI through his team’s first 51 games, joining Albert Pujols who notched 64 RBI for the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals.

Others receiving votes included Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox (.379, 6 HR, 18 RBI) and Mark Trumbo of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (.367, 7 HR, 18 RBI).

In recognition for his Budweiser Presents American League Player of the Month Award, Josh Hamilton will receive a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved, for his accomplishment.