Chris Davis, Justin Upton named MLB Players of the Month

Press Release Major League Baseball

Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis has been voted the Budweiser Presents American League Player of the Month for April. Budweiser, the official beer sponsor of Major League Baseball and sponsor of 23 of 30 clubs, is also the presenting sponsor of the National League Player of the Month Award.

Davis batted .348 (32-for-92) with eight doubles, nine home runs, 28 RBI, 19 runs scored and 16 walks in 27 games to claim his first career Player of the Month award and the first for the Orioles since Melvin Mora took home A.L. Player of the Month honors in August 2008. Davis also won A.L. Rookie of the Month while with the Texas Rangers in July 2008. Among league leaders in April with a minimum of 81 plate appearances, the 27-year-old finished first in slugging percentage (.728) and total bases (67), tied for first in homers and RBI, second in extra-base hits (17), fourth in batting average, fifth in on-base percentage (.442), sixth in walks and tied for seventh in runs. The Texas native came out swinging to begin the season, hitting safely in his first five games with three ulti-hit performances over the stretch. On April 3rd, Davis notched a career-high-tying four hits, including a pair of doubles, a homer and four RBI in an 8-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg. In Baltimore’s home opener against the Minnesota Twins two days later, Chris launched an eighth-inning grand slam to break a 5-5 tie as the Orioles closed out a 9-5 victory at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Through Baltimore’s first four games of the season, Davis batted a combined 9-for-15 (.600) with three doubles, four homers and a Major League-record 16 RBI, eclipsing the old RBI mark of 12 (set three times). In addition, the left-handed-hitting slugger became just the fourth player in history to launch homers in a season’s first four games, joining Willie Mays (1971), Mark McGwire (1998) and Nelson Cruz (2011). Davis’ offensive exploits earned him A.L.

Player of the Week honors for April 1st-7th, his second career weekly award after splitting the award with Detroit Tigers hurler Justin Verlander in the final week of the 2012 season. Additionally, he became the first Oriole to garner consecutive weekly nods since Eddie Murray in 1981. In the first game of a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 20th, the fifth round pick in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft (by Texas) went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three runs scored to lead the Orioles to a 7-5 triumph in Baltimore. The next night, the sixth-year veteran tallied three more hits, including a double, as the O’s dropped the game to the visiting Dodgers, 7-4. In his last 13 games in April, Davis batted .356 (16-for-45) with four doubles, three homers and nine RBI. Others receiving votes included the reigning A.L. MVP Miguel Cabrera (.363, 6 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 28 RBI, 21 R, 13 BB) of the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians backstop Carlos Santana (.389, 9 2B, 5 HR, 13 RBI, 14 R, .722 SLG, .476 OBP).

The Budweiser Presents American League Player of the Month, Chris Davis, will receive a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved, for his accomplishment.

Outfielder Justin Upton of the Atlanta Braves has been voted the Budweiser Presents National League Player of the Month for April. Budweiser, the official beer sponsor of Major League Baseball and sponsor for 23 of 30 MLB clubs, is also the presenting sponsor of the American League Player of the Month Award.

In 26 games last month, Upton clubbed his way to the top of the Major League leaderboards with 12 home runs and a .734 slugging percentage — both the top-ranked marks in all of MLB. Upton hit .298 (28- for-94), while also ranking among N.L. leaders with 22 runs scored (T-1st), 19 RBI (T-8th) and a .402 on-base percentage (10th). The Virginia native, in his first season with the Braves after being acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks in January, added five doubles, 16 walks and three stolen bases to his monthly totals as he helped his new club to a 17-9 record (.654) to lead the N.L. East. Upton’s 12 homers in the month of April fell just two shy of the all-time record (since 1921) of 14 home runs in the month of April, held by Albert Pujols (2006) and Alex Rodriguez (2007). On April 23rd, in Atlanta’s 19th game of the season, Upton became just the 18th player in Major League history to reach 10 home runs before his team had played 20 games after clubbing a first-inning blast in the front end of Atlanta’s doubleheader at Colorado.

The two-time N.L. All-Star also went deep in the nightcap of the set for his 11th four-bagger, eclipsing the Atlanta Braves record for April homers (since 1966), previously held by Andres Galarraga (1998 and 2000) and Ryan Klesko (1996). His second homer of the day was on the latter end of back-to-back blasts after his brother, B.J., led off with a homer of his own. According to Elias, it marked just the second time in history that two brothers had hit backto-back homers in a Major League contest. The Uptons’ hot bats helped the Braves sweep the doubleheader, winning 4-3 and 10-2, respectively. Justin had three game-winning RBI in his first month with Atlanta, including a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning in Atlanta’s 6-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs on April 6th at Turner Field. It was his second home run of the day, marking his fifth career multi-homer game, and was the second game-ending home run of his career. The first overall pick in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft paid immediate dividends for the Braves, homering on Opening Day and going 7-for-18 with five home runs in his first five games in a Braves uniform. According to Elias, Upton became the first player in Major League history to hit five homers in his first five games with a team.

This is his second career monthly award, previously claiming the honor in May 2009 with Arizona. Other players receiving votes included Washington’s Bryce Harper (.344, 9 HR, 18 RBI, .720 SLG); Cincinnati’s Shin-Soo Choo (.337, 4 HR, 11 RBI, .477 OBP); John Buck (.241, 9 HR, 25 RBI) of the New York Mets; Milwaukee’s Yuniesky Betancourt (.280, 6 HR, 21 RBI); Colorado’s Wilin Rosario (.350, 7 HR, 19 RBI, .650 SLG); and Pablo Sandoval (.333, 4 HR, 22 RBI) of the San Francisco Giants.

The Budweiser Presents National League Player of the Month for April 2013, Justin Upton, will receive a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved, in recognition of his accomplishment.