Josh Hamilton, Yu Darvish Honored by MLB

Texas Ranger outfielder John Hamilton and pitcher Yu Darvish were honored by Major League Baseball Wednesday.

Hamilton was named the AL Player of the Month and right-hander Yu Darvish was named Rookie of the Month in voting by writers and broadcasters.

Chicago RHP pitcher Jake Peavy was named the AL Pitcher of the Month, preventing the Rangers from making a clean sweep of the honors.

Only one team – Minnesota in June, 2006 – has even swept all three honors in either league.

From the Rangers’ Press Release:

Hamilton's virtual sweep of the offensive leaderboards included an AL-best nine home runs, 25 RBIs, 64 total bases and a .744 slugging percentage. He was second with a .395 batting average, 20 runs and 34 hits (tied) in 22 April games.

Few AL players have ever had a start like Hamilton's. He was just the fourth since 1921 to compile at least nine homers, 25 RBIs, 20 runs, and 34 hits in April. The others were the Mariners' Ken Griffey Jr. and the Yankees' Tino Martinez, both in 1997; and the Royals' Jermaine Dye in 2000. Hamilton tied the Rangers' team record for homers in April.

Darvish became just the sixth rookie starter since 1957 to win at least four games without a loss in April. He was 4-0 in five starts in his first Major League action, tying for the league lead in wins. He was also among the league leaders in ERA (sixth, 2.18) and strikeouts (tied for fifth, 33). Darvish is just the third Rangers player to win AL Rookie of the Month since it was first awarded in 2003. Gerald Laird won in 2004 and Neftali Feliz took home honors in 2010. Hamilton has won a club-record four Player of the Month awards: in April and May of 2008 and June 2010. Rafael Palmeiro and Alex Rodriguez both won three.