YORDAN ALVAREZ OF THE HOUSTON ASTROS NAMED SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER’S AMERICAN LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE MONTH PRESENTED BY CHEVROLET; RONALD ACUÑA JR. OF THE ATLANTA BRAVES NAMED SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER’S NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE MONTH PRESENTED BY CHEVROLET
Designated hitter/outfielder Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros has been named the American League Player of the Month presented by Chevrolet, while All-Star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves has been voted the National League Player of the Month presented by Chevrolet for September/October.
Alvarez picked up his second career Player of the Month Award and his first since winning in June of 2022. He is the first Astros player to take home monthly honors since Alex Bregman in August of 2022. Acuña earned his fourth career award and third of the season after previously winning in April and June of this year. He also won in April 2021, accounting for four of the last five monthly awards for Atlanta.
Yordan Alvarez, Houston Astros (@yordan4342)
• The 26-year-old hit .293 (27-for-92) with eight home runs, 20 RBI, six doubles, 19 walks, 16 runs scored, a .441 on-base percentage and a .620 slugging percentage in 27 games last month while leading the Astros to their third straight AL West Division title.
• The Cuba native led AL hitters in slugging; ranked second in OPS (1.061); ranked third in on-base percentage; ranked fourth in walks; tied for fourth in home runs; tied for sixth in RBI; tied for seventh in extra-base hits (14); and ranked eighth in total bases (57).
• The 2019 AL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year had multiple hits in six of his games and reached safely in 26 of his 27 games. Overall, he reached base in each of his first 17 games of the month. Dating back to August 20th, he reached base in 30 consecutive games, marking the longest single-season on-base streak of his career.
• The two-time All-Star slugged his 30th home run of the year on September 24th against Kansas City, marking his third consecutive year with 30 home runs. He is one of four Houston players all-time to register three seasons of 30-or-more homers, joining Jeff Bagwell (9 seasons with 30+ HR); Lance Berkman (5 seasons with 30+ HR); and Glenn Davis (3 seasons with 30+ HR).
• The 2022 World Series Champion is one of seven big league players to hit 30 home runs in each of the last three seasons, joining Kyle Schwarber, Austin Riley, Shohei Ohtani, Matt Olson, Pete Alonso and Aaron Judge. Alvarez’s 101 home runs over the three-year stretch are eighth-most in MLB.
• The 2021 ALCS MVP drew three walks on September 4th at Texas and September 8th against San Diego. He was intentionally walked in back-to-back plate appearances on September 27th at Seattle.
Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta Braves (@ronaldacunajr13)
• The 25-year-old hit .340 (36-for-106) with 11 home runs, 23 RBI, four doubles, one triple, 10 walks, 29 runs scored, 11 stolen bases, a .403 on-base
percentage, and a .708 slugging percentage in 26 games last month.
• The Venezuela native led Major League hitters in total bases (75) and runs scored; tied for the lead in home runs, ranked second in slugging; tied for sixth in extra-base hits (16) and stolen bases (11); ranked seventh in hits (36) and OPS (1.111); and ranked eighth in batting average.
• The 2018 NL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year swiped his 70th base of the season on September 27th against Chicago, becoming the first player in MLB history with 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases in a single season. He swiped second in the eighth inning for his 69th steal of the year and came around to score the tying run and then again swiped second in the 10th inning for his 70th of the year, coming around to score on a walk-off single.
• The four-time All-Star hit safely in 14 straight games from September 12th-30th, batting .379 (22-for-58) with five homers, 11 RBI, three doubles, one triple, 18 runs scored over the stretch. It was the second-longest hitting streak of his career behind a career-high 16-game hitting streak from June 17th-July 5th earlier this year.
• Acuña reached in 21 consecutive games from September 6th-30th, collecting hits in 20 of the contests. The stretch included three three-hit games, 10 multi-hit games, three games in which he reached base four times and eight games in which he reached at least three times.
• The two-time Silver Slugger crushed two home runs on September 7th against St. Louis and September 19th against Philadelphia. Overall, he has 13 career multi-homer games, four of which came this season.
Others receiving votes for AL Player of the Month presented by Chevrolet included second baseman Marcus Semien (.292, 9 HR, 19 RBI, 8 2B, 12 BB, 23 R, 1 SB, .602 SLG) of the Texas Rangers; outfielder Aaron Judge (.284, 8 HR, 19 RBI, 5 2B, 27 BB, 19 R, .614 SLG, .452 OBP) of the New York Yankees; first baseman and 2023 Rod Carew American League Batting Champion Yandy Díaz (.345, 5 HR, 12 RBI, 7 2B, 14 BB, 16 R, .607 SLG, .444 OBP) of the Tampa Bay Rays, September/October AL Rookie of the Month third baseman Royce Lewis (.313, 6 HR, 23 RBI, 2 2B, 11 BB, 15 R, 4 SB, .612 SLG, .410 OBP) of the Minnesota Twins; Alvarez’s teammate Jose Altuve (.308, 7 HR, 17 RBI, 5 2B, 7 BB, 18 R, .558 SLG) of the Astros; and designated hitter Miguel Cabrera (.324, 1 HR, 10 RBI, 5 2B, 4 BB, 5 R, .441 SLG) of the Detroit Tigers.
Others receiving votes for NL Player of the Month presented by Chevrolet included outfielder Juan Soto (.340, 10 HR, 29 RBI, 6 2B, 18 BB, 26 R, .711 SLG, .440 OBP) and shortstop Xander Bogaerts (.416, 4 HR, 13 RBI, 10 2B, 2 3B, 7 BB, 25 R, .673 SLG, .451 OBP) of the San Diego Padres; Acuña’s teammate Matt Olson (.346, 11 HR, 25 RBI, 3 2B, 18 BB, 24 R, .692 SLG, .447 OBP) of the Braves; and outfielder TJ Friedl (.333, 7 HR, 18 RBI, 3 2B, 3 3B, 15 BB, 18 R, .704 SLG, .450 OBP) of the Cincinnati Reds.