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Juan Gonzalez
19 home runs to date and and currently leading both leagues with 76 rbis is no lazy effort. This is in part hte reason why I named him player of the week.
Position: OF Number: #19 Bats:R Throws: R Height: 6-3 Weight: 235 Birthdate: October 16, 1969 Major League Service: 6 years, 12 days
1996 SEASON The 1996 MVP put up outstanding numbers as he led his club to its first ever playoff appearance. Gonzalez missed 28 games due to injury, but still was among the league leaders in several offensive categories. His 144 RBI and .643 slugging percentage were both second in the AL. His 82 extra base hits placed him forth while his 47 HR and 348 total bases placed him fifth. All were team highs, and were career highs as well. His .314 average and 170 hits also established new career highs. Twice during the season he had 21 game hitting streaks. During the first streak he batted .430 and he hit .345 over the second streak. He is one of only three players to have three 40+ home run seasons over the past five years, and is one of only four active players with three 40+ home run seasons. He is the only Ranger ever to hit 40 or more homers in a season. His 47 home runs in 1996 tied the most ever hit by a Latin-American player. During the season he had five two homer games, raising his career total to 18, he also has a pair of three homer games. His 15 home runs in the month of July tied for the most in that month. He became the 10th youngest player ever to reach 200 career HR. He also tied a post-season record with five home runs in a series. He did it against the Yankees in the Division Series. His 144 RBI was the 8th most in the Majors since 1950, but was only third in the Majors for 1996. His ratio of RBI per game was 1.07, and was the best since 1938, and he was the first player to average more than an RBI a game in 16 years. His 38 RBI in the month of July broke the team record for any month. He was AL Player-of-the-Month for July. He led the Majors with a .407 average, 15 homers, 38 RBI, .917 slugging, and 99 total bases. He also played well in the field committing only two errors all season, and he tied for the team lead with six outfield assists. In his young career he is already in the top ten for most offensive categories in Ranger history.
1995 SEASON In his fifth full Major League season hit .295 with 27 HR and 82 RBI in 90 games for the Rangers...finished second on the club in HR and RBI despite playing in just 90 games because of lower back and neck injuries...earned his first American League Player of the Week Award...on 7/6 vs the Yankees became the 11th-youngest player in history to hit 150 career HR...on 8/21 vs Minnesota hit his fourth career grand slam. CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Juan Alberto Gonzalez was signed by Texas as a free agent on 5/30/86...has spent his entire 10-year professional career in the Rangers organization...was an All-Star in 1993, when he hit .310 with 118 RBI and led the Major Leagues with 46 HR...all were career highs as he became just the second Ranger ever to win the club's triple crown (Jeff Burroughs, 1974)...that season finished fourth in the MVP voting...also led the majors with 43 HR in 1992, becoming the first Ranger ever to lead the league in homers...is the Rangers' all-time leader with 167 HR and ranks among the club's all- time Top 10 in 7 additional offensive categories...his 162 HR the last 5 seasons ranks sixth among all players...has three 100-RBI seasons...4 times has hit at least 27 HR and twice has hit at least 43 HR...has at least 80 RBI in each of his 5 full seasons...his four 20-HR season ranks second in Rangers history...has 15 multi-HR games, a club record...has 4 career grand slams, 1 shy of the club record...his 46 HR in 1993 tied Orlando Cepeda (1961) for the most ever by a native of Puerto Rico...won the 1993 All-Star Game home run-hitting contest, becoming the first player ever to hit a ball into the third deck in Camden Yards.
