Kansas City Royals designated hitter Kendrys Morales has been named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending September 11th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Kendrys batted .409 (9-for-22) with six runs scored, five home runs and 14 RBI over six games to claim his fourth career AL Player of the Week Award, last winning earlier this season on July 3rd. Among AL leaders, Morales finished the period first in home runs, RBI, total bases (24) and slugging percentage (1.091); tied for second in extra-base hits (5); tied for third in on-base percentage (.500); and eighth in batting average.
On Tuesday night against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field, Morales blasted a pair of home runs and matched a seasonhigh with five RBI. The explosive outing marked his third multi-homer game of the season and 17th of his career. In the third and final game of the series on Thursday, the Cuban native delivered his fourth home run of the series, marking the second time in his career in which he homered in three consecutive games. Kendrys accomplished the feat earlier this season in three games from June 30th-July 2nd. The 33-year-old became the first Royal ever to record four round-trippers and 10 RBI in a three-game series and the first player in the Majors since Edwin Encarnacion of the Toronto Blue Jays did so last season against Detroit (August 28th-30th). Entering play today, Morales is riding a 13-game hitting streak, dating back to August 28th. During his current streak, which is the second-longest of his career (20 games in 2009), the switch-hitting slugger is batting .385 (20-for-52) with 13 runs scored, a double, seven home runs and 20 RBI. Additionally, the veteran DH has logged an RBI in six straight games, establishing a new personal best. His 27 home runs this season are his second-most in a single season (34 in 2009) and are the most for a Royals player since Billy Butler hit 29 homers in 2012. Propelled by Kendrys' hot bat, the Royals went 4-2 during his award-winning week and now sit 4.0 games back for an AL Wild Card.
Other noteworthy performances last week included Alex Bregman (.333, 5 R, 2 HR, 8 RBI) and Yulieski Gurriel (.385, 5 R, 3 HR, 5 RBI) of the Houston Astros; Brian Dozier (.308, 6 R, 4 HR, 6 RBI) of the Twins; Dustin Pedroia (.385, 10 H, 2 2B, 7 RBI) of the Boston Red Sox; Adrian Beltre (.444, 12 H, 3 HR, 5 RBI) of the Texas Rangers; and Masahiro Tanaka (2-0, 1.98 ERA, 13.2 IP, 14 SO) of the New York Yankees.
In recognition of his American League Player of the Week Award, Kendrys Morales will be awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time, the leader in licensed sports watches, available at MLB.com.