Padres’ Tatis Jr. and Cronenworth awarded NL Player of the Month Honors
Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Two San Diego Padres players were awarded players of the month on Wednesday.
Major League Baseball named Jake Cronenworth as the National League Rookie of the Month and Fernando Tatis Jr. as the National League Player of the Month Wednesday morning.
Jake Cronenworth began the season on the bench behind Jurickson Profar and Greg Garcia as the team’s second basemen.
When first baseman Eric Hosmer landed on the injured list, Cronenworth stepped up by showing his versatility.
While there, he showed off an elite defense and great hitting. Now he’s the everyday second baseman and is getting national attention.
Cronenworthy of Rookie of the Month. 👏 pic.twitter.com/sPt5Z4WTcr
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 2, 2020
In August, Cronenworth hit four home runs to go along with his .355 average, .408 OBP, and .613 SLG. With his great August, Cronenworth is the front runner for NL Rookie of the Year with just over twenty games to go.
Fernando Tatis Jr. is slowly becoming the face of baseball. His combination of being a five-tool player with a vibrant personality is just what baseball needs. After a stellar rookie year, Tatis Jr. is not slowing down in his sophomore season.
Niño’s 🌎. pic.twitter.com/g5xUsAEYjb
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 2, 2020
In August, Tatis Jr. hit a league-leading 11 home runs. If that isn’t impressive enough, Tatis Jr. also hit in 24 runs with a .313/.388/.670 slash line.
On the entire season, Tatis Jr. leads the league in home runs, runs, RBIs, total bases, and offensive WAR, according to Baseball-Reference. He is among the top candidates for NL MVP.
Jake Cronenworth and Fernando Tatis Jr. are two key reasons as to why the San Diego Padres are currently in a playoff spot and have the most runs scored in all of baseball. The Padres will need both players to continue their success in September and October to keep winning.
Dominic is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Journalism. He also is the producer and co-host of the “Padres EVT Podcast.”
Congratulations to our two extraordinary young talents. Cronenworth has come out of nowhere. We appear to have an exceptional core of young players. Besides Tatis Jr and Cronenworth, we have Machado (28), Meyers, and more. Throw in our elite young pitchers including those waiting, we have quite the team to make a run for years to come.
I’m still worried that Preller has disrupted our chemistry and went too far into the minor league pool. But, I’m reading things that say we did not lose too much talent in making the trades. That many, except a couple, traded were not likely to be top notch players. I’m still skeptical.