St. Louis Cardinals outfielder/first baseman José Martínez has been voted National League Rookie of the Month for September. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Martinez posted a slash line of .345/.427/.548 with 12 runs scored, 29 hits, five doubles, four home runs, 18 RBI and 12 walks to earn his first career monthly award. Among qualified NL rookie sluggers with at least 20 at-bats, Martínez finished the month first in on-base percentage; second in batting average; third in hits; tied for third in RBI; fourth in walks; tied for fourth in doubles and slugging percentage; and tied for fifth in home runs and stolen bases. This is the Cardinals' second Rookie of the Month Award this season, following José's teammate Paul DeJong, who took home rookie honors in July.
On September 8th against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium, Martínez notched his third multi-hit game of the month to go along with a pair of RBI. Dating back to August 30th, the 29-year-old posted a career-best 10-game hitting streak to lead the Cardinals to a 7-3 record. During his torrid stretch, the La Guaira, Venezuela native slashed .484/.529/.871 with nine runs scored, 15 hits, three doubles, three home runs and eight RBI. Included in his hot stretch at the plate was his second multi- homer game of the season (also June 13th) on September 5th against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. In addition, the right- handed-hitting slugger tallied 72 hits over the course of his first 100 career games played, the most by a Cardinals hitter with 80-or-fewer plate appearances since Matt Adams (74) in 2012-13. Martínez finished his breakout season with a .309/.379/.518 slash line to go along with 47 runs scored, 13 doubles, 14 home runs, 46 RBI and four stolen bases.
Others receiving votes for NL Rookie of the Month included José's aforementioned teammate DeJong (.272, 16 R, 13 XBH, 13 RBI); backstop Jorge Alfaro (.290, 4 2B, 4 HR, 9 RBI), first baseman/outfielder Rhys Hoskins (17 R, 5 2B, 7 HR, 23 RBI) and outfielder Nick Williams (.303, 13 R, 7 XBH, 22 RBI) of the Philadelphia Phillies; infielder Ozzie Albies (.297, 16 R, 7 XBH, 15 RBI) of the Atlanta Braves; third baseman Christian Villanueva (.344, 11 H, 4 HR, 7 RBI) of the San Diego Padres; and outfielder Victor Robles (.261, 6 H, 3 XBH, 4 RBI) of the Washington Nationals.
In recognition of their Rookie of the Month Awards, José Martínez and Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees will each receive a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved, for their accomplishments.
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