The Will Middlebrooks Legacy Grows With POW Honors

First Will Middlebrooks made his debut for the Boston Red Sox in May and instantly caught the attention of a Nation.  Next he all but pushed Kevin Youkilis out of a starting job that saw the all-star get dealt to Chicago and now the new full time third baseman has added to his young legacy by earning the American League Player of the Week honors.

The 23-year old has been “raking” at the plate  and if you follow him on Twitter you know that he loves to use that term. Over the past seven days and six games, young Willie went 10-for-16 (.625 average) with three home runs and 10 RBI.  He also added 3 doubles and led the league in batting average, slugging percentage (1.375), on-base percentage (.632) and total bases with 22.  The kid is hot and nothing was more evident than the game Thursday night against the Miami Marlins when he tied it with a frozen rope, two-run homer to dead center in the eighth inning.  He continued his torrid pace against the Atlanta Braves over the weekend, mashing home runs and doubles against Braves pitching.  There was good reason to deal Youkilis and he’s wearing number 64.

Rumblings have already started as to whether Middlebrooks is an early candidate for AL Rookie of the Year and while it’s easy to agree right now, there is still plenty of baseball to be played, including the dog days of summer.  Something that will test the endurance and mental ability of the young phenom.  If he can continue to deliver at the plate and at the hot corner, then a nomination for the ROY award could be warranted.

For now, we’ll continue to enjoy the impressive performance that Middlebrooks is delivering.  And we’ll get to it on a regular basis as third base is now his. As the Youkilis era in Boston is officially over, the Middlbrooks era is just getting started.