The Kansas City Royals announced today that outfielder/designated hitter Jorge Soler and left-handed pitcher Danny Duffy have been named Royals Player and Pitcher of the Month, respectively, for the month of September. The awards are determined by a local media vote.
Soler, 27, led the Royals in September with 10 home runs and 20 RBI, his second straight 10-homer, 20-RBI month. Prior to August, the last Royal to hit 10 homers in a month was Mike Sweeney in June 2001. Soler’s first home run of the month, on September 3 vs. Detroit, was his 39th of the season, which broke a tie with Mike Moustakas (38 in 2017) for the Royals’ single-season record. Soler homered in consecutive games three times in September and had a pair of multi-homer games, on September 11 in Chicago and on September 28 vs. Minnesota. He reached safely in each of his last 14 games and recorded a hit in each of his last eight, including a home run in Game 162 to finish the season with 48, becoming the first Royal ever to lead the American League in home runs. This is his third Royals Player of the Month Award and third straight, making him the first to win three straight since Eric Hosmer from June-August of 2013.
Duffy, 30, led Royals starters in innings (30.1), strikeouts (25) and ERA (2.37), going 2-0 in five September starts. He held opponents to a .185 average (20-for-108), which ranked fourth among qualified American League pitchers, while his ERA ranked sixth and was his lowest in any month since July 2014, when he had a 2.01 ERA in 31.1 innings. Duffy allowed three earned runs or fewer in all five starts, and had a scoreless streak of 15.0 innings from the second inning on September 13 through the third inning on September 24, which was the second-longest run by a Royal in 2019, and just 2.1 innings shy of his career-long 17.1-inning scoreless streak from July 5-19, 2015. His last three starts came vs. playoff teams: Houston (AL West champs), Oakland (AL Wild Card) and Atlanta (NL East champs), in which he went 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA (4 ER in 18.0 IP). This is Duffy’s sixth career Royals Pitcher of the Month Award, tied with Wade Davis for fourth most since its inception in 1995, trailing only Zack Greinke (8), Joakim Soria (8) and Kevin Appier (7).