Hamilton, Darvish Win Monthly Awards

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Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton has been selected as the American League Player of the Month for April while right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish has been named April’s A.L. Rookie of the Month. The awards were announced this afternoon by Major League Baseball in voting by the league writers and broadcasters.

Hamilton led the A.L. with nine homers, 25 RBI, 64 total bases, and a .744 slugging percentage while ranking second with a .395 batting average, 20 runs, and 34 hits (tied) in 22 April games. He became just the fourth A.L. player since 1921 with at least nine homers, 25 RBI, 20 runs, and 34 hits in April, joining Seattle’s Ken Griffey, Jr. and New York’s Tino Martinez in 1997 and Kansas City’s Jermaine Dye in 2000. Hamilton also tied the Rangers team record for homers in April.

It marks the fourth time that Hamilton has won the A.L.’s monthly award as he was also honored in both April and May 2008 and June 2010. That is the most monthly awards in club history as Rafael Palmeiro and Alex Rodriguez were both honored three times each as Rangers. It is also the second consecutive month that a Ranger has captured A.L. Monthly honors with Adrian Beltre being selected in September 2011.

Darvish was 4-0 in five starts in his first major league action in April, tying for the league lead in wins. The right-hander was also among the league leaders in ERA (6th, 2.18) and strikeouts (T5th, 33). He became just the sixth rookie starter since 1957 to win at least four games without a loss in April.

Darvish is just the third Ranger to win the A.L.’s Rookie monthly Award since it was first instituted in 2003, joining Gerald Laird in April 2004 and Neftali Feliz in September 2010.

This also marks the first time that the Rangers have ever won multiple American League awards in a single month.

Jake Peavy of the Chicago White Sox was selected as the A.L. Pitcher of the Month for April.