After a stellar debut with the team, Baltimore Orioles infielder Tim Beckham has been named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending August 6th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Beckham posted a slash line of .583/.600/1.167 with six runs scored, three doubles, a triple, three home runs and six RBI over six games played to earn his first career AL Player of the Week Award. Among AL leaders, Tim finished the period first in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and total bases (28); tied for first in hits (14) and triples; tied for third in home runs; and tied for seventh in runs scored and doubles. This is Baltimore's second weekly award this season, following Beckham's All-Star teammate Jonathan Schoop, who claimed weekly honors two weeks ago for the period ending July 23rd.
Beckham, who was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays on July 31st, has tallied a hit in each game he has played for Baltimore, notching multi-hit efforts in five-of-six contests during his award-winning week. In his first game with the Orioles on Monday against the Kansas City Royals, the 27-year-old tallied a pair of hits and runs scored to help propel Baltimore to a 7-2 victory. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Beckham became the first player to log multiple hits and runs scored in his first career game with the Orioles after previously playing for a different Club that season since Brook Fordyce did so on July 30, 2000 against the Cleveland Indians. The first overall selection in the 2008 MLB Draft followed up his impressive first game by going 4-for-4 with a home run on Friday night against the Detroit Tigers. According to Elias, the Griffin, Georgia native became the only active player to log at least two hits in each of his first four games with his current team. In Saturday's home tilt against Detroit at Camden Yards, Beckham clubbed his third round-tripper in as many days as part of his fifth consecutive multi-hit game. With the prolific output, the versatile infielder became the first player in the Modern Era (since 1900) to record 13 hits and three home runs in his first five games with a new Club. It was also the first time in Beckham's four-year career that he registered three homers over any three-day span. In addition, Tim's solo homer in the eighth inning was the 10,000th regular season home run in Orioles history (since 1954). The O's became the fourth Club across the Majors to reach the 10,000-home run mark since 1954, joining the New York Yankees, Tigers and Boston Red Sox.
Other noteworthy performances last week included two-time MVP outfielder Mike Trout (.455, 6 R, 3 HR, 6 RBI) of the Los Angeles Angels; infielder Alex Bregman (.385, 7 R, 7 2B, 9 RBI) of the Houston Astros; 2017 All-Star Luis Severino (2-0, 1.54 ERA, 11.2 IP, 17 SO) of the New York Yankees; Texas Rangers teammates Elvis Andrus (.483, 14 H, 7 2B, 3 RBI) and Joey Gallo (5 R, 5 HR, 10 RBI, .880 SLG); utility man Eduardo Nuñez (.393, 11 H, 4 2B, 9 RBI) of the Boston Red Sox; All-Star outfielder Justin Upton (5 R, 2 2B, 4 HR, 11 RBI) of the Tigers; and closer Edwin Díaz (4 SV, 0.00 ERA, 6 SO) of the Seattle Mariners.
In recognition of his American League Player of the Week Award, Tim Beckham will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.