Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout has been voted the Budweiser Presents American League Player of the Month for April, and Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman has been voted the Budweiser Presents National League Player of the Month for April. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network. Budweiser serves as the official beer sponsor of Major League Baseball and sponsor for 23 of 30 MLB clubs.
Trout batted .364 (36-for-99) with 18 runs scored, nine doubles, a pair of triples, seven home runs, 18 RBI and five stolen bases to claim his fourth career AL Player of the Month Award, last winning for the Angels in July 2015. Mike is the first Angels player to win four Player of the Month Awards, eclipsing Frank Tanana's previous record of three monthly honors (September 1976; May 1977; April 1978). Among qualified AL leaders, Trout finished the month first in hits, extra-base hits (18) and batting average; tied for first in doubles and triples; second in slugging percentage (.707); tied for second in on-base percentage (.443); third in stolen bases; tied for third in home runs; and tied for fourth in runs scored.
On April 11th against the Texas Rangers at Angel Stadium, Trout drove in his 500th career RBI, becoming the 13th player in franchise history to plate 500 runs, and just one of seven Angels all-time to log 500 RBI and 600 runs scored, joining Garret Anderson, Tim Salmon, Brian Downing, Darin Erstad, Bobby Grich and Jim Fregosi. With his fifth stolen base of the 2017 campaign on April 26th, the New Jersey native became the second player in club history ever to record five home runs, five stolen bases and 15 RBI in the month of April, joining Erstad, who accomplished the feat during his 1998 All-Star campaign. On Friday night against the Rangers at Globe Life Park, Trout tallied three hits, including his seventh home run of the season. With the two-run homer, the two-time AL MVP (2014, 16) became just the eighth player in MLB history to log 175 home runs, 500 RBI and 600 runs scored before their age-26 season, and just the fourth in AL history, joining Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx and Mickey Mantle as well as Alex Rodriguez. Recording his ninth double of the season the following night in Arlington, Trout's 18 extra-base hits matched the franchise record for extra-base hits in the month of April, set by Anderson (2003), Troy Glaus (1999) and Erstad (1998). The five-time AL All-Star (2012-16) concluded his award-winning month on a 14-game hitting streak, batting .415 (22-for-53) with 12 runs scored, five doubles, a triple, eight RBI and three stolen bases during his hot stretch.
Others receiving votes for AL Player of the Month included AL Rookie of the Month Aaron Judge (.303, 23 R, 10 HR, 20 RBI) of the New York Yankees; Miguel Sanó (.316, 6 2B, 7 HR, 25 RBI) of the Minnesota Twins; Avisaíl García (.368, 15 R, 10 XBH, 20 RBI) of the Chicago White Sox; José Ramírez (.330, 6 2B, 6 HR, 21 RBI) of the Cleveland Indians; and Khris Davis (18 R, 10 HR, 17 RBI, .659 SLG) of the Oakland A's.
Zimmerman hit .420 (37-for-88) with 22 runs scored, eight doubles, 11 home runs, 29 RBI and a
stolen base to claim his first career Player of the Month Award, and the first for the Nationals since teammate Daniel Murphy last July. Nats players have now won four of the last seven Player of the Month Awards since the start of 2016 with Bryce Harper (April) and Murphy (May & July) taking home honors last season. Among qualified Major League leaders, Ryan paced all sluggers in hits, extra-base hits (19), RBI, batting average and slugging percentage (.886), and finished the month tied for first in home runs with Eric Thames of the Milwaukee Brewers.
On Saturday afternoon at Nationals Park against the New York Mets, Zimmerman tallied three hits, including his 11th home run of the season to go along with a run scored and three RBI. This is the first time in his career that Zimmerman has hit 11 round-trippers in the month of April, only reaching the mark in a single month one other time during his 13-year career (September, 2013). With the solo homer, the 2009 NL All-Star passed Hall of Famer Andre Dawson to move into second place on the franchise's all-time home run list (226), trailing only Vladimir Guerrero (235). The 32-year-old veteran finished his award- winning month in grand fashion, logging multi-RBI efforts in his final four games, and six of his last seven contests (April 23rd-30th). During that torrid stretch, Zimmerman batted .517 (15-for-29) with two doubles, six home runs and 15 RBI. Led by their slugging first baseman, the Nationals scored 170 runs this past month, the 10th highest mark in Major League history for the month of March/April and the most since the Chicago Cubs scored 171 runs in 2008. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Washington became the first team in history to score 14-or-more runs in a game five different times in April (4/10, 4/19, 4/25, 4/27, 4/30). The Nationals enter play today atop the NL East with the best record in the NL at 17-9 (.654).
Ryan's teammate Harper (.391, 32 R, 9 HR, 26 RBI) also received votes after establishing a new Major League record for runs scored in April, passing Colorado's Larry Walker, who scored 27 runs in April 1997. The four-time NL All-Star enters play today leading the Majors in on-base percentage (.513) and runs scored (33). Others receiving votes for NL Player of the Month included Milwaukee's Thames (.345, 28 R, 6 2B, 11 HR) and Freddie Freeman (.381, 22 R, 6 2B, 9 HR) of the Atlanta Braves.
The Budweiser Presents American League Player of the Month, Mike Trout, and the Budweiser Presents National League Player of the Month, Ryan Zimmerman will each receive a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved, for their accomplishments.