Blue Jays: Marcus Semien Named AL Player of the Month

On Wednesday afternoon, Major League Baseball announced each of their monthly awards and among the winners was the Blue Jays Marcus Semien who was selected as the American League Player of the Month.

Semien came into May with a slash line of .211/.290/.368, however his hitting came alive and raised his slash line to .297/.365/.550 by month’s end.  During the month Semien played in 28 games and failed to register a hit in just three of those games, and was unable to get on base in just once.  The veteran had 12 multi-hit games, including a pair of three-hit games and one four-hit game.  In total, Semien had a slash line of .368/.429/.702 with 12 doubles, 8 home runs and 22 RBI during May.

When the Blue Jays signed Semien to a one-year deal this past summer, they hoped he would produce close to his 2019 season when he finished third in American League MVP voting.  So far to start the season he has made it look like he’ll surpass those totals.  On top of winning his first Player of the Month award during his career, he currently leads the league in hits (64).

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Semien has already continued his hot streak into June, as he went 2 for 4 with a pair of runs to start the month off.

The Blue Jays second basemen becomes the first player in the franchise to win the monthly award since Edwin Encarnacion won it nearly six years ago (August 2005).  If Semien can win the award one more time, he will become just the fifth Blue Jays player to win it multiple times over his career. Other players in team history to win the award include: Jose Bautista (5), Encarnacion (2), , Joe Carter (2), John Olerud (2), Paul Molitor (1), Roberto Alomar (1), Kelly Gruber (1), George Bell (1), Fred McGriff (1), Lloyd Moseby (1), Alfredo Griffin (1) and Otto Velez (1).

Do you think Semien can keep his early season production up for the remainder of the season?