Schoop’s power display nets Player of the Week honor
A near-record-setting week for Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop netted him American League Player of the Week honors Monday.
Schoop, who has all but saved his season this month, homered in five straight games from July 22 to Friday. He nearly tied the major league record for consecutive games with a home run by a second baseman, set in 2016 by Brian Dozier, but Tampa Bay Rays left fielder Joey Wendle took a home run away from him in Saturday’s Orioles win.
Schoop rebounded to homer Sunday and extend his hitting streak to 12 games, giving him a .379 average with five home runs, a double and 13 RBIs last week.
“I think it’s just when I get a pitch to put a good swing on it and make it go forward,” Schoop said of his recent surge after Friday’s game. “I’ve had some good at-bats, even three weeks ago, not two months ago, I was getting pitches to hit but I wasn’t doing damage with them. I was fouling it back, I was getting jammed, I was missing them. Right now, I’m putting good contact on them.”
He entered Monday’s day off batting .244/.273/.447 this season, up from .197/.242/.345 on July 1. Schoop also won the weekly honor July 23, 2017. NOTE: Double-A Bowie first baseman Aderlin Rodriguez was named Eastern League Player of the Week on Monday after batting .412 with three home runs in five games for the Baysox.
Rodriguez could have had another hit or two in Sunday’s doubleheader, but they were instead judged as errors. The 26-year-old first baseman is batting .271 with a team-high 17 home runs in 96 games for Bowie. Extra innings: The Astros had lost a season-high four in a row heading into Monday night’s series opener against the Mariners on the West Coast. ... The Cardinals sent down LHPTyler Webb, placed RHP Luke Gregerson on the DL and reinstated RHP Carlos Martinez from the DL. ... The A’s optioned RHP Frankie Montas and recalled RHP Ryan Dull.