Teammates Max Kepler and Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins have been named the American League Co-Players of the Week for the period ending August 7th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Kepler batted .370 (9-for-27) with nine runs scored, four home runs, 11 RBI, six walks and two stolen bases over seven games to earn his first career AL Player of the Week Award. Max finished the week first in the AL in runs scored and RBI, tied for first in walks, tied for second in home runs and stolen bases, tied for fourth in total bases (22), fifth in slugging percentage (.815) and eighth in on-base percentage (.471). On Monday against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field, the 23-year-old rookie went 4-for-6 with three home runs and six RBI, joining Bob Allison (May 17, 1963), Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew (September 21, 1963), Tony Oliva (July 3, 1973) and Justin Morneau (July 6, 2007) as the only players in club history to homer three times in a game. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Kepler, a native of Berlin, Germany, became the first European-born player in baseball history to log three round-trippers in a game. Additionally, his 13 total bases were the most for a rookie in a single game since Andrew McCutchen had 13 in 2009, and were tied with Tim Teufel (1983) for most total bases for a rookie in Twins history. The 23-year-old played baseball for Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg of Bundesliga, the highest baseball league in Germany.
Mauer batted .560 (14-for-25) with eight runs scored, six doubles, a triple, a home run and nine RBI over six games. Winning his second weekly award this season (also May 31st) and fourth of his career, Joe paced the AL in batting average, slugging percentage (1.000), on-base percentage (.633), hits and doubles. In addition, he finished second in total bases (25), tied for second in runs scored and RBI, and tied for third in walks (5). In Wednesday night's away tilt with the Indians, the first overall pick of the 2001 MLB Draft went 4-for-5 with two doubles, a triple and four RBI in Minnesota's 13-5 victory. The four-RBI output gave the 13th-year veteran the 794th RBI of his storied career, moving him into sole possession of sixth on the Twins' all-time list. From August 1st-5th, the six-time AL All-Star notched five consecutive multihit games, including a pair of four-hit efforts. The Minnesota native batted .636 (14-for-22) with eight runs scored, six doubles and eight RBI during his hot streak, helping the Twins outscore their opponents 49-27 en route to a 4-1 record. Since the All-Star break, the Twins pace the AL in runs scored (118), hits (219), doubles (53), triples (10), RBI (113) and slugging percentage (.459).
Other noteworthy performances last week included the winners' Minnesota teammates Brian Dozier (.324, 6 R, 3 HR, 9 RBI) and Eddie Rosario (.458, 6 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI); Danny Duffy (2-0, 1.23 ERA, 14.2 IP, 22 SO) of the Kansas City Royals; Pedro Alvarez (.500, 5 HR, 6 RBI, 1.438 SLG), Dylan Bundy (2-0, 1.38 ERA, 13.0 IP, 16 SO) and Manny Machado (.370, 10 H, 3 HR, 9 RBI) of the Baltimore Orioles; and Cleveland's Mike Napoli (.333, 7 R, 4 HR, 7 RBI).
In recognition of their American League Co-Players of the Week Awards, both Max Kepler and Joe Mauer will be awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time, the leader in licensed sports watches, available at MLB.com.