Kansas City Monarchs catcher Chris Herrmann and Sioux City starter Solomon Bates earned the American Association’s Pointstreak Batter and Pitcher of the Week awards for the week ending May 21st, the league announced Monday.
Herrmann had a huge week at the plate for a Monarchs team getting into a rhythm after having a slow start to the season. The left-handed hitting slugger finished the week going 14-for-24 at the plate for a .583 average including three doubles and three home runs, one of which was a grand slam.
Herrmann had the most RBIs this week by far with 14 in the six games he played. He also walked five times while striking out just four.
The Tomball, Texas native is in his first year of American Association baseball after previously playing in the majors for four different teams between 2012-2019. He helped lead the Monarchs to a home-opening series sweep of Sioux Falls over the weekend highlighted by his grand slam in the opener on Friday which capped off an 18-6 win.
On the pitching side, Solomon Bates has been lights out for a Sioux City team that sits in first place at 8-1 after the first two weeks.
This week, Bates started against Lake Country on Thursday, picking up the win going seven strong innings allowing just one run and striking out 11.
The right-hander allowed just five hits and one walk on Thursday as well, and the Explorers needed every bit of that strong start as they went on to win by a 2-1 final.
The 26-year-old Victorville, California native is playing in his second season with the Explorers after being drafted in the 8th round of the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft by the San Francisco Giants and playing four seasons of affiliated ball.
Bates is part of the reason why the Explorers are off to a great start as a team and as a pitching staff, currently holding the best team ERA in the league by a good margin at 2.39.
Pointstreak is the official statistician of the American Association.
