Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve and Baltimore Orioles outfielder Mark Trumbo have been named the American League Co-Players of the Week for the period ending April 17. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Altuve batted .407 (11-for-27) with eight runs scored, three doubles, three home runs, seven RBIs and two stolen bases, while Trumbo batted .320 (8-for-25) with eight runs scored, five home runs, 11 RBIs and one double. This marks Altuve's second weekly honor (also May 3, 2015) and Trumbo's first weekly award. Jose finished the week tied for first in the AL in hits (11) and runs scored, second in slugging percentage (.852) and total bases (23), tied for second in home runs and stolen bases, fourth in on-base percentage (.484) and tied for fourth in RBIs. Mark, an Anaheim, California native, paced the Majors in home runs, slugging percentage (.960) and total bases (24), and led his AL counterparts in RBIs.
On Monday, Altuve, a three-time All-Star, went 3-for-4 with two steals, three runs scored and one RBI in a home win over the Kansas City Royals. The Venezuelan native tied the franchise record for most steals (6) within the club's first seven games of a season, joining Cesar Cedeno (1975 and 1980). Additionally, Altuve homered in consecutive games for the second time in his career on Wednesday and Thursday, and delivered four multi-hit efforts during his award-winning week. The six-year veteran leads the Majors in multi-hit games (229) since the 2012 season. With a run scored in Saturday night's home tilt against the Detroit Tigers, the 2014 AL batting champion became the first Astros player since 2004 to collect 12 runs scored within the club's first 12 games of the season (Craig Biggio, Richard Hidalgo and Jeff Bagwell). For Trumbo's part, the 2012 AL All-Star homered twice in the seventh inning of Friday night's game against the Texas Rangers, becoming the first player in Orioles history to hit multiple home runs in a single inning. The multi-homer output earned the slugger his fifth career game of five or more RBIs and first since September 15, 2014 as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Trumbo, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the Seattle Mariners, became the first player in club history to hit five home runs within his first 10 games with the team. He broke a mark shared by nine players who hit four homers through their first 10 games with the team, most recently by Todd Zeile in 1996, Rafael Palmeiro in 1994 and Mike Pagliarulo in 1993.
Other noteworthy performances last week included Delino DeShields (.500, 6 R, 11 H, .522 OBP) of the Rangers; Yunel Escobar (10 H, 5 2B, 3 RBI, .433 OBP) of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; Detroit's J.D. Martinez (.407, 2 HR, 6 RBI, .704 SLG); Chris Sale (1-0, 9 SO, 1 CG, 1 SHO) of the Chicago White Sox; and Trevor Plouffe (.435, 4 2B, 5 RBI, .739 SLG) of the Minnesota Twins.
In recognition of their American League Co-Players of the Week Awards, both Jose Altuve and Mark Trumbo will be awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time, the leader in licensed sports watches, available at MLB.com.