Detroit Tigers outfielder J.D. Martinez has been named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending July 16th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Martinez batted .455 (5-for-11) with two runs scored, a double, two home runs, seven RBI, two walks and a stolen base to earn his fourth career AL Player of the Week Award, and second of the season. Among AL leaders, J.D. finished the period first in RBI; tied for first in home runs; second in slugging percentage (1.091); tied for second in extra-base hits (3) and total bases (12); third in batting average; and tied for third in on-base percentage (.500). This is Detroit's second Player of the Week Award, following J.D.'s most recent honor earlier this season on May 22nd. Martinez joins outfielder Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox as the only American Leaguers this season to garner multiple weekly honors this season.
On Saturday night against the Toronto Blue Jays at Comerica Park, the 2015 AL All-Star went 3-for-5 with a double, home run and five RBI in Detroit's 11-1 victory over Toronto. The RBI output marked his second game of the season (also May 16th vs. Baltimore) with at least five RBI, and third of his career (also June 21, 2015 at New York). Detroit's slugging outfielder followed up his prolific performance with his 16th round-tripper of the season in the Tigers' 6-5 victory on Sunday afternoon. Martinez, who became the first player in franchise history to record 10 homers in his first 22 games of a season, reached the 16-homer mark in just 198 at-bats. J.D. posted a career-best 38 home runs during his Silver Slugger Award-winning 2015 season. Since the calendar flipped to July, the Miami, Florida native has posted a slash line of .356/.412/.644 with eight runs scored, 16 hits, four doubles, three homers and 10 RBI. Having recorded a hit in 11-of-12 contests, the seven-year veteran enters play today in the midst of an eight-game hitting streak dating back to July 5th.
Third baseman Matt Chapman (.556, 5 R, 5 XBH, .600 OBP) of the Oakland Athletics also posted an impressive week. The 24-year-old rookie delivered the first multi-home run game of his career on Saturday, while also logging his first three-hit game. Led by Chapman, Oakland logged at least five runs in each game of its series against the Cleveland Indians, beginning the second half of 2017 with a 3-0 record. Other noteworthy performances last week included closer Edwin Díaz (3 SV, 0.00 ERA, 3.0 IP, 7 SO) of the Seattle Mariners; starting pitchers David Price (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 8.0 IP, 8 SO) and Chris Sale (0.00 ERA, 7.2 IP, 13 SO) of the Boston Red Sox; and second baseman Brian Dozier (.385, 3 R, 2 HR, 5 RBI) of the Minnesota Twins.
In recognition of his American League Player of the Week Award, J.D. Martinez will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.