Davis named AL Player of the Month

First baseman Chris Davis has been voted the American League Player of the Month for April, the first Oriole to receive the honor since Melvin Mora in August 2008. Davis batted .348 (32-for-92) with eight doubles, nine home runs, 28 RBIs, 16 walks and 19 runs scored in 27 games to claim his first career Player of the Month award. Among league leaders last month with a minimum of 81 plate appearances, Davis finished first in slugging percentage (.728) and total bases (67), tied for first in homers and RBIs, finished second in extra-base hits (17), fourth in batting average, fifth in on-base percentage (.442), sixth in walks and tied for seventh in runs. Davis hit safely in his first five games, with three multi-hit performances over the stretch. On April 3, he tied his career high four hits, including two doubles, a homer and four RBIs in an 8-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg. Two days later, in the Orioles' home opener against the Minnesota Twins, Davis launched an eighth-inning grand slam to break a 5-5 tie in a 9-5 victory. Through the first four games of the season, Davis batted a combined 9-for-15 (.600) with three doubles, four homers and an MLB-record 16 RBIs, eclipsing the old RBI mark of 12 set three times. In addition, he became just the fourth player in history to hit home runs in a season's first four games, joining Willie Mays (1971), Mark McGwire (1998) and Nelson Cruz (2011). Davis' offensive exploits earned him AL Player of the Week honors for April 1-7, his second career weekly award after splitting the other one with Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander in the final week of the 2012 season. Additionally, he became the first Oriole to garner consecutive weekly nods since Eddie Murray in 1981. In his last 13 games in April, Davis batted .356 (16-for-45) with four doubles, three homers and nine RBIs. Other AL players receiving votes included reigning MVP Miguel Cabrera (.363, six doubles, one triple, four home runs, 28 RBIs, 13 walks, 21 runs) and Indians catcher Carlos Santana (.389, nine doubles, five homers, 13 RBIs, 14 runs, .476 on-base percentage, .722 slugging percentage). Davis will receive "a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved." I assume that means it will include the proper spelling of his name.