HOUSTON, TX - Major League Baseball announced this afternoon that Houston Astros outfielder Colby Rasmus has been named the American League Player of the Week for the week of April 18-24. This marks the second career Player of the Week award for Rasmus.
During the week, Rasmus hit .316 (6x19) with five runs scored, one double, four home runs, 10 RBI, one steal, one outfield assist and a 1.458 OPS (.458 OBP/1.000 SLG) in six games. Over that time frame, he led the American League in OPS, homers and slugging percentage. His four home runs and 10 RBI all came within a four-game span, which included a tie-breaking grand slam against Boston on Saturday and a game-tying, 9th-inning two-run homer against the Red Sox last night.
On Friday, Rasmus launched a new charity initiative, "Hitters for Heroes", in which he will donate $1,000 to Team Rubicon for every home run he hits during the 2016 season. Team Rubicon is a disaster response nonprofit that utilizes the skills of military veterans to provide relief following natural disasters.
Rasmus has now won a Player of the Week award twice, as he won the National League Player of the Week award for the week of May 31-June 6, 2010, as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.
With today's announcement, an Astros player has now won the Player of the Week award three times in the first three weeks of the 2016 season. Last week, second baseman Jose Altuve was named the AL Co-Player of the Week with Mark Trumbo, and first baseman Tyler White took home the honors for the first week of the season. This marks the first time in club history that an Astros player has won a Player of the Week Award in three consecutive weeks.
The Astros are the first American League team in the 43-year history of MLB's Player of the Week awards (begun in 1974) to take home the honor in three consecutive weeks to open up a season. The last trio of American League teammates to win three consecutive Player of the Week awards in a season were Boston's Carl Crawford (May 24-30), David Ortiz (May 31-June 5) and Jacoby Ellsbury (June 6-13) in 2011.
In recognition of his American League Player of the Week award, Rasmus will be awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time, the leader in licensed sports watches, available at MLB.com.
-ASTROS-