Kiké Hernández forced Major League Baseball's hand.
With the performances he put up the last seven days, the league really had no choice but to honor the Boston Red Sox utility player as American League Player of the Week.
Hernández went 10-for-25 with three home runs and nine RBIs, accumulating a .400 batting average, .448 on-base percentage and 1.000 slugging during that stretch. At first it didn't look promising, but on both sides of the ball, the 30-year-old has emerged into the player manager Alex Cora envisioned.
"He is doing an amazing job -- 10-for-25, .400, three homers, nine RBIs -- hitting the ball hard, playing good defense," Cora told reporters after the news was announced Monday.
"He has been doing a great job. We gave him one off day and we benched him the next one. And then we put him in the bottom a lineup, kind of like for him to breathe, and he has made some adjustments, has been better controlling the strike zone and he's hitting the ball hard."
July isn't over yet, but Hernández likely should be a lock for AL Player of the Month as well.
