June wasn’t a disaster for every Royal. Here is the player and pitcher of the month
Not everyone had a horrible June for the Kansas City Royals.
Whit Merrifield and Scott Barlow were chosen the Royals’ player and pitcher of the month for June, when the Royals posted a 7-20 record.
For Merrifield it was a record setting month. His 40 hits were the most in any month in his career and he became the first Royal to collect at least 40 hits in a month since Jon Jay had 43 in May 2018.
Merrifield’s total led the majors, and no Royal had topped baseball in that department since Johnny Damon had 51 hits in July 2000.
For June, Merrifield hit .351 to raise his batting average from .250 when the month started to .287. He led the team with 17 RBIs in June and record six doubles, two triples and four home runs.
Barlow won the pitching award for the second straight month. In his 11 appearances, he had a 1.69 ERA and opponents hit .231 against him. He recorded 14 strikeouts in 10.2 innings.
Also, Ryan O’Hearn, who was called up by the Royals on June 21, did enough damage at Triple-A Omaha in the first three weeks of the month to win the Triple-A East player of the month award for June.
O’Hearn hit .385, led the league with 12 home runs, 65 total bases and an 1.452 OPS. He was second in RBIs with 24.
This story was originally published July 2, 2021 at 2:44 PM.