Major League Baseball

Cleveland Indians Jason Kipnis wins AL Player of the Month

Published Jun. 3, 2015 5:26 p.m. ET

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By Josh Poloha

After putting together of the best months in Cleveland Indians history, Jason Kipnis was rewarded on Thursday when MLB announced that he won the American League Player of the Month for the month of May. This is Kipnis’ second AL Player of the Month Award, with the first coming in June 2013.

In 29 games in May, Kipnis batted .429 with 4 home runs, 17 RBI, 15 doubles, 3 triples, and 30 runs scored. He led all MLB hitters in batting average, on-base percentage (.511), doubles, and runs during May, while leading the AL in slugging percentage (.706) and extra-base hits (22), and triples.

The 28-year-old hit safely in 25 of 29 games during the month. Along with leading the majors in many stats during May, Kipnis set an Indians franchise record for most hits (51), which was also the most by any player in the MLB since Melky Cabrera did so in May 2012 with the San Francisco Giants. One of the most impressive stats of the month for Kipnis – he hit .556 against fastballs.

Kipnis was the first second baseman in franchise history to have at least 20 extra-base hits in a single month. The 22 extra-base hits were the most in a month for the Indians since Travis Hafner (August 2006) had 22 extra-base hits as well. He was also the first Indians player to reach base more than 70 times in a single month since Hall of Famer Earl Averill did so in July 1934.

Kipnis was just the third player in MLB history to record at least 50 hits and 30 runs scored, joining Hall of Famers Ty Cobb (Detroit Tigers, 1921) and Al Simmons (Philadelphia Phillies, 1925).

After such an impressive month, Kipnis climbed from being unranked to the fourth-leading vote getter on the All-Star ballot among AL second basemen.

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