Iannetta slugs way to AL Player of Week win
Chris Iannetta is the first Angels catcher in a generation or two to be the American League's Player of the Week. Iannetta, who batted .429 with three home runs last week, was named the Player of the Week for the first time in his career -- the first Angels catcher to snag the honor since Ellie Rodriguez in 1974.
Iannetta is the first Angels player of any position to win the Player of the Week award in 2013, after he drove in five runs, scored seven and drew two walks over six games last week. Iannetta led all AL hitters with a .952 slugging percentage and was second to teammate Mark Trumbo in total bases (20).
The 30-year-old started his onslaught on Tuesday with three hits -- including a double and a home run -- in a 12-6 victory over the Blue Jays. Iannetta came back Thursday to single, draw a walk and score a run in the Angels' 4-3 victory that capped a three-game series sweep over Toronto.
Iannetta doubled and homered in a loss to the Astros on Friday night, and he delivered another 2-for-4 game with another home run in a 6-2 victory over the Astros on Saturday. Those two back-to-back games represented the first time that Iannetta has had consecutive multihit games since April.
Iannetta's resurgence at the plate spans much further than a week, though. Since the start of August, he sports a .301/.402/.542 slash line, raising it to .232/.367/.391 for the season.
"I'm feeling a lot better about myself, obviously, over this stretch than I had in the beginning half of the year," said Iannetta, who sat Monday against right-hander Jarrod Parker. "I obviously wasn't doing what I was capable of doing and wasn't playing at the level I should be playing at. It's good to build on that. It's disappointing that we're not in the playoff race right now, but it's good to build on that going into the offseason heading into next year."
At least three of Iannetta's teammates -- Trumbo, Kole Calhoun and Josh Hamilton -- were considered as candidates for the Player of the Week Award. Calhoun hit .407 with seven RBIs last week, while Trumbo batted .357 with six extra-base hits and Hamilton batted .400 with a homer and six RBIs.
Houston's Matt Dominguez delivered a noteworthy performance by batting .400 with a homer and six RBIs, and Alex Gordon batted .308 with three home runs. Oakland catcher Josh Donaldson batted .400 last week, and Toronto's Moises Sierra batted .524 with six doubles and four RBIs.
Two pitchers -- Detroit's Rick Porcello and Cleveland's Ubaldo Jiminez -- were among the top players of the week. Porcello went 1-0 with one earned run in a complete game against the White Sox, while Jiminez went 2-0 with a 0.59 ERA and 18 strikeouts with just one walk last week.