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 Kansas City Monarchs infielder Justin Wylie as American Association Player of the Week for Week 13 of the 2023 season.

Monarchs IF Justin Wylie Named Player of the Week

On Monday, This Week in the Association and the Minor League Sports Report named Kansas City Monarchs infielder Justin Wylie as the Player of the Week for Week 13 of the 2023 American Association season. Wylie had an impressive week, hitting .429 with four homers, 10 runs scored, and eight RBI to lead the Monarchs to a 5-1 record.

Kansas City faced the Winnipeg Goldeyes all week, and Wylie was spectacular, recording at least one hit in all six contests. The week began with a 2-4 performance where the infielder scored three runs, hit his first home run of the week and added an RBI. In the second game of the series, Wylie what 1-4, scoring a run, and driving in another. On Thursday, the infielder had a huge game, going 4-6 with his second homer of the week. He scored two runs and had three RBI in the contest.

The fourth game of the series saw the Kansas City infielder goal 1-5, hitting his third homer of the week. He went 2-5 with two runs scored on Saturday, then follow that up with a 2-4 performance on Sunday, hitting his fourth home run of the series, driving in two.

For the week, Justin Wylie was 12-28 (.429). He led the league in runs scored, was tied for the league lead in home runs for the week and finished tied for third in RBI. The infielder finished second in slugging percentage (.964) and was second in OPS (1.448).

Justin Wylie was an undrafted free agent after graduating from the University of Arizona in 2019. He began his professional career with Birmingham-Bloomfield (USBL), hitting .215 with 12 runs scored and 14 RBI in 23 games. In 2021, Wylie joined New Jersey (Frontier League) where he hit .289 with 50 runs scored and 64 RBI in 80 games. The infielder clubbed 15 home runs that year. He followed that up in 2022 with a 20 homer, 77 RBI season for the Jackals. Wylie hit .306 with 75 runs scored and 43 extra-base hits. This season he has been outstanding for the Monarchs, hitting .319 with 54 runs scored, 12 home runs, and 38 RBI in 66 games. Wylie was selected as the starting second baseman for the West Division All-Star team.

Wylie is the second Monarchs player to be selected as Player of the Week this season. Catcher Chris Herrmann earned the honor in Week 2.

2023 American Association Players of the Week

Week 1 –Zach Nehrir, Outfielder, Cleburne Railroaders
Week 2 – Chris Herrmann, Catcher, Kansas City Monarchs
Week 3 – Matt Lloyd, Sioux City Explorers
Week 4 – Nick Anderson, Lincoln Saltdogs
Week 5 – Bryan Torres, Milwaukee Milkmen
Week 6 – Jonah Davis, Kane County Cougars
Week 7 – Hill Alexander, Cleburne Railroaders
Week 8 – Jordan Barth, Sioux Falls Canaries
Week 9 – Luke Roskam, Lincoln Saltdogs
Week 10 – Matt Lloyd, Sioux City Explorers
Week 11 – Jabari Henry, Sioux Falls Canaries
Week 12 – Todd Lott, Kane County Cougars

By Robert Pannier