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Mitch Moreland Selected AL Player of the Week

Texas Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland has been selected by Major League Baseball as the American League Player of the Week for July 25-31, it was announced Monday on the MLB Network.

It is the first time a Rangers player has won the weekly award in 2016, and it is the first such honor in Moreland’s career.

Moreland batted .455 (10-22) with 5 home runs and 9 RBI over 7 games last week, leading the major leagues in home runs, total bases (25), and slugging percentage (1.136), while also tying Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera and Los Angeles-AL’s Albert Pujols for the most RBI in the majors. He also ranked among American League leaders in batting average (2nd), hits (T4th, 10) and runs (T5th, 6). He posted hits and RBI in each of the week’s final 6 contests.

Moreland hit 4 home runs in the Rangers’ 4-game sweep of Kansas City over the weekend, including his 10th career multi-homer game on Thursday and his second game-ending home run on Saturday. It marked just the second time since 2013 for a Texas batter to hit at least 4 runs in a 4-game series, the other instance also by Moreland, who homered 4 times in a 4-game set last June 29-July 2, 2015 at Baltimore.

Moreland has 7 home runs since the All-Star break, tied with Oakland’s Khris Davis for the A.L. lead, also tied with 3 other National League batters for the most in MLB. He has 18 home runs this season, his 3rd-most ever in one campaign and just 5 shy of matching his career high of 23 in both 2013 and 2015.

Moreland is the first Texas player to take the A.L.’s weekly award since Adrian Beltre won the honors in the final week of the 2015 season. In recognition of his American League Player of the Week Award, he will be awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time.

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