Hits keep coming for Tigers' Kevin McGonigle — and now an award, too

TL;DR

Kevin McGonigle of the Tigers has been named American League rookie of the month for March/April, batting .328 with 13 RBIs. He signed an eight-year, $150 million contract extension shortly after his major league debut.

Key points

Kevin McGonigle named AL rookie of the month for March/April
He batted .328 with 13 RBIs in his first month
Signed an eight-year, $150 million contract extension
Second-favorite for AL rookie of the year
Last Tigers player to win AL rookie of the year was Lou Whitaker in 1978

Mentioned in this story

Kevin McGonigleLou WhitakerMunetaka MurakamiMajor League Baseball

American League rookie of the monthTigers

Detroit — Twas a heck of a first month in the major leagues for Kevin McGonigle.

McGonigle, the Tigers starting shortstop, was named American League rookie of the month for March/April by Major League Baseball on Monday. McGonigle, who made his major-league debut with a four-hit game on Opening Day on March 26, finished his first month batting .328 with a .935 OPS, 15 extra-base hits and 13 RBIs.

McGonigle, 21, signed an eight-year, $150-million contract extension just days into his major-league career, after making the team out of spring training as the consensus No. 2 prospect in all of baseball.

The former first-round draft pick is currently the second-favorite to win AL rookie of the year, just behind Chicago White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami. The last Tigers position player to win AL rookie of the year was Lou Whitaker in 1978.

McGonigle has a 2.1 WAR through his first 34 major-league games, and he already has 10 multi-hit games. One of those was in Sunday's 7-1 win over the Texas Rangers; he had two hits and two RBIs.