Once Nelson Cruz started hitting during his first month with the Seattle Mariners, he never stopped. On Monday, he got a little bit of hardware as a result.
Cruz was named April’s American League Player of the Month on Monday afternoon, becoming the first Mariner to take home the award since Ichiro did so in July 2004. It was the culmination of a spectacular month for Cruz in which he led the American League in slugging percentage and extra-base hits and finished tied for first in home runs.