Four, I repeat, four Astros have been chosen as the AL Player of the Week in 2016.
As the Astros prepared to take on the Los Angeles Angels yesterday, Major League Baseball announced Carlos Correa as the AL Player of the Week from June 20th-26th. The young shortstop joins teammates Tyler White, Jose Altuve, and Colby Rasmus to receive the honor as the Astros trio of AL Player of the Week’s now becomes a quartet.
While Correa went through a rough month of May (98 wRC+), his production with the bat steadily improved throughout the month of June (156 wRC+). The former first overall pick was on a big tear last week as he hit .333 with three home runs and four doubles. He also posted a 234 wRC+ and 1.282 OPS. His play has helped turn an anemic Astros offense in April and May into a juggernaut in June.
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If it wasn’t for Correa’s performance, the odds of the Astros of going 8-2 over their past ten games is definitely more doubtful. This level of production in conjunction with the Astros winning seven straight led to Correa receiving his first AL Player of the Week award. Hopefully the first of many.
The Astros and Correa himself have to be pleased with the recent news. Correa, the 2015 AL Rookie of the Year, has become one of the best young players in franchise history. Per Richard Justice of MLB.com, Correa is the youngest player in Astros history to win the award. Andujar Cedeno, who garnered an NL Player of the Week honor in 1992, was the previous youngest Astro to win the award.
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This honor only advances the argument of Correa becoming one of the rising stars in baseball. It is very well possible that Correa has become the new face at shortstop for Major League Baseball. And his star power should only increase as he unleashes his potential. There is so much room for him to become a better hitter and shortstop. Who knows, maybe he will another one or two of these Player of the Week awards sooner rather than later?
**Statistics provided by Fangraphs**