Houston Astros first baseman Tyler White has been named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending April 10th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
White batted .556 (10-for-18) with two doubles, three home runs, nine RBI and three runs scored over six games to claim his first career AL Player of the Week Award. White is the first AL rookie position player to earn opening week Player of the Week honors in MLB history. Salome Barojas of the Chicago White Sox accomplished the feat as a pitcher during the 1982 season after notching four saves in four appearances. National League rookies to win Player of the Week during Opening Week include White's fellow 2016 rookie Tyler White of the Houston Astros and Fernando Valenzuela (1981 Los Angeles Dodgers). Tyler paced all Major League hitters in batting average and slugging percentage (1.167). Among his AL counterparts, the 25-year-old rookie finished the period first in on-base percentage (.591), tied for first in hits, RBI and extra-base hits (5), second in total bases (21) and tied for second in home runs.
In an Opening Day rematch of the 2015 AL Wild Card Game with the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, White became just the sixth Astro in franchise history to record his first Major League hit on Opening Day and the first since James Mouton did so on April 4, 1994. In his second career start on April 7th, the North Carolina native went 3-for- 4 with four RBI and his first career Major League home run, becoming the second player in club history with a four-RBI game within his first three Major League games (also George Bjorkman on July 13, 1983 vs. Montreal). White, who was the eighth player in club history to post a three-hit game within his first three career games, logged multi-hit efforts in each of his first three starts. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, White is the first MLB player to begin his career batting 9-for-13-or-better since Mike Schemer accomplished the feat for the New York Giants in 1945. White hit safely in each of his first five games, collecting 10 hits within that span. White, Houston's 33rd round pick in the 2013 MLB Draft and the first player from the Astros' 2013 draft class to reach the Majors, collected more hits (10), home runs (3) and RBI (9) than any Astros player within their first five career games in club history.
Other noteworthy performances last week included Manny Machado (.429, 3 HR, 5 R, .905 SLG) of the Baltimore Orioles; Starlin Castro (.450, 9 H, 8 RBI, .850 SLG) of the Yankees; Josh Donaldson (4 HR, 9 RBI, 8 R, 22 TB) of the Toronto Blue Jays; Robinson Cano (4 HR, 9 RBI, .760 SLG, 19 TB) of the Seattle Mariners; and Chris Sale (2-0, 3.86 ERA, 14 IP, 14 SO) of the White Sox.
In recognition of his American League Player of the Week Award, Tyler White will be awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time, the leader in licensed sports watches, available at MLB.com.