American Association Daily provides insights, features, and recaps of the action from around the American Association of Professional Baseball League, as well as player and coaching profiles and transactions. In today’s edition, This Week in the Association and the Minor League Sports Report name Kane County cougars outfielder Cornelius Randolph as American Association Player of the Week for Week 7 of the 2024 season.

Cougars OF Cornelius Randolph Named Player of the Week

On Monday, This Week in the Association and the Minor League Sports Report Kane County Cougars outfielder Cornelius Randolph as the Player of the Week for Week 7 of the 2024 season. Randolph had a spectacular week, hitting .571 with three homers and eight RBI.

Kane County began the week with a three-game set against the Kansas City Monarchs and Randolph was spectacular, going 8-13 in the series with five runs scored, two homers, and four RBI. He also doubled twice in the series and walked two times.

Randolph opened with a 2-5 performance, with his two hits being a double and a home run. He scored twice in the game and drove in two. A night later, the outfielder went 3-5, scoring a run and adding his second double of the series. He closed out the week with a perfect performance, going 3-3 with two runs scored, a home run, two RBI, and two walks in the rubber match.

Next the team welcomed the DockHounds and Randolph did not cool down, going 4-8 in the series with five runs scored and four RBI. He also walked twice in each of the three games. Randolph opened with a 2-4 performance, hitting his third home run of the week while driving in four. He also scored three runs in that contest. The Cougars slugger then went 2-3 with a run scored and closed the series with a 0-2 performance, but scored a run.

For the week, Cornelius Randolph led the league in batting average (.571), runs scored (10), and was tied for second in homers (3). His .690 on-base percentage led the league, as did his slugging percentage (1.095) and OPS (1.785).

Cornelius Randolph was selected in the first round of the 2015 draft by the Philadelphia Phillies. He spent six years and the Phillies organization, reaching AAA-Lehigh Valley in 2021. In 2022 he moved to the Chicago White Sox organization where he began the season at AA-Birmingham before being released. In seven minor league seasons, Randolph hit .251 with 214 RBI and 240 runs scored in 527 games.

After being released, the outfielder joined the Cougars, hitting .310 in 87 games. He homered 14 times that season and scored 64 runs while also driving in 64. Last season he appeared in 63 games, hitting .279, but is off to a fast start this year, hitting .313 with 22 RBI in 26 games.

2024 American Association Players of the Week

Week 1 – Narciso Crook, Chicago Dogs
Week 2 – Blake Rutherford, Kansas City Monarchs
Week 3 – Jaxx Groshans, Cleburne Railroaders
Week 4 – Max Murphy, Winnipeg Goldeyes
Week 5 – Brian O’Grady, Cleburne Railroaders
Week 6 – Josh Altmann, Lake Country DockHounds

By Robert Pannier