Jackson Merrill of the San Diego Padres named the National League Rookie of the Month for June; Wyatt Langford of the Texas Rangers named the American League Rookie of the Month for June

Outfielder Jackson Merrill of the San Diego Padres has been voted the National League Rookie of the Month for June and outfielder Wyatt Langford of the Texas Rangers has been voted the American League Rookie of the Month for June. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network. Merrill became the first Padres’ rookie to win a monthly award since Jake Cronenworth won for July/August 2020.

Overall, it is the eighth honor for a Padres’ rookie with Merrill becoming the seventh different Padre to take home the honor. Langford is the first Rangers’ rookie to take home monthly honors since his teammate Josh Jung won in back-to-back months last May and June. It is the 15th time a Rangers’ rookie has been named Rookie of the Month, with 13 different players claiming the award.

Jackson Merrill, San Diego Padres (@_jacksonmerrill_)
• The 21-year-old hit .320 (33-for-103) with nine homers, 20 RBI, seven doubles, three walks, 17 runs scored, two stolen bases, a .650 slugging percentage and a .346 on-base percentage in 28 games last month.
• The Maryland native led qualified rookies in batting average, homers, slugging, OPS (.996), hits (23), doubles, extra-base hits (16) and total bases (67); tied for the lead in runs; and ranked second in RBI.
• After making his debut on March 20th during the season-opening Seoul Series, Merrill put together the best month of his young career in June, as his 33 hits were the most
in a month by a Padre aged 21-or-younger since Fernando Tatis Jr.’s 36 hits in August 2020. Only Roberto Alomar had more hits in June at that age as a Padre, picking up 35 hits in 1990.
• The 27th overall selection in the 2021 Draft recorded eight multi-hit games, including four three-hit games and four two-hit games. His 22 multi-hit games and eight three-hit games this season are both the most among rookies and his eight three-hit games are tied for third-most in the Majors.
• Merrill homered in three straight games from June 12th-15th, including his first career multi-homer game on June 12th against Oakland. At 21 years, 54 days old he became the second-youngest Padre with a multi-homer game behind Tatis, who was 20 years, 186 days when he homered twice on July 7, 2019.
• The outfielder hit his first career walk-off home run on June 12th to cap off his two-homer game. Along with Donovan Solano’s multi-homer game, it was the eighth time in Padres’ history that a pair of teammates hit at least two home runs in the same game and the first time since June 29, 2019.

Wyatt Langford, Texas Rangers (@wyattlangford8)
• The 22-year-old hit .309 (30-for-97) with three homers, 22 RBI, six doubles, three triples, eight walks, 11 runs scored, six stolen bases, a .526 slugging percentage and a .368 on-base percentage in 26 games last month.
• The Florida native led qualified rookies in RBI and triples; ranked second in hits (30), extra-base hits (12) and total bases (51); tied for second in doubles; ranked third in slugging, OBP and stolen bases; fourth in OPS (.894); and fifth in batting average.
• The fourth overall selection in last year’s Draft hit for the cycle on June 30th at Baltimore, marking the 11th cycle in Rangers’ history and the seventh cycle in the history of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Langford became the eighth player in the last 75 years to hit for the cycle within his first 60 career games, and the first since Elly De La Cruz last June.
• On top of his first career cycle, Langford hit his first career grand slam on June 22nd against Kansas City. Along with his first career inside-the-park home run on April 28th against Cincinnati, Langford became the first player in Major League history to hit for the cycle, hit a grand slam and an inside-the-park home run all within his first 60 career games.
• The University of Florida product had multiple hits and multiple RBI in seven games, including three straight games from June 19th-22nd, as Texas went 7-0 in June when he had multiple hits and multiple RBI. He became the first Ranger since Rougned Odor in 2016 to record multiple hits and multiple RBI in at least three straight games. He became the first player age 22-or-younger to accomplish the feat in three consecutive games since Tatis from May 9-21, 2021.

Others receiving votes for NL Rookie of the Month included starting pitcher Paul Skenes (2-0, 1.78 ERA, 5 GS, 30.1 IP, 29 H, 5 BB, 40 SO) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; starting pitcher Gavin Stone (4-0, 1.97 ERA, 5 GS, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 32.0 IP, 24 H, 8 BB, 29 SO) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; and starting pitcher Tobias Myers (4-0, 1.44 ERA, 5 GS, 31.1 IP, 20 H, 8 BB, 24 SO) of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Shortstop David Hamilton (.253, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 5 2B, 3 BB, 13 R, 12 SB, .440 SLG) of the Boston Red Sox was the only player besides Langford to receive votes for AL Rookie of the Month.