Texas Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland has been selected by Major League Baseball as the American League Player of the Week for July 25-31, it was announced today on the MLB Network. It is the first time a Rangers player has won the weekly award in 2016, and it is the first such honor in Moreland's career.
Moreland batted .455 (10-for-22) with five home runs and nine RBIs over seven games last week, leading the Major Leagues in home runs, total bases (25), and slugging percentage (1.136), while also tying Detroit's Miguel Cabrera and Los Angeles-AL's Albert Pujols for the most RBIs in the Majors. He also ranked among American League leaders in batting average (2nd), hits (T4th, 10) and runs (T5th, 6). He posted hits and RBIs in each of the week's final six contests.
Moreland hit four home runs in the Rangers' four-game sweep of Kansas City over the weekend, including his 10th career multi-homer game on Thursday and his second game-ending home run on Saturday. It marked just the second time since 2013 for a Texas batter to hit at least four runs in a four-game series, the other instance also by Moreland, who homered four times in a four-game set last June 29-July 2, 2015 at Baltimore.
Moreland has seven home runs since the All-Star break, tied with Oakland's Khris Davis for the AL lead, also tied with three other National League batters for the most in MLB. He has 18 home runs this season, his third-most ever in one campaign and just five shy of matching his career high of 23 in both 2013 and '15.
Moreland is the first Texas player to take the AL's weekly award since Adrian Beltre won the honors in the final week of the 2015 season. In recognition of his American League Player of the Week Award, he will be awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time.