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 outfielder Jhailyn Ortiz as American Association Player of the Week for Week 17 of the 2024 season.

Monarchs outfielder Jhailyn Ortiz Named Player of the Week

On Monday, This Week in the Association and the Minor League Sports Report Kansas City Monarchs outfielder Jhailyn Ortiz as the Player of the Week for Week 17 of the 2024 season. Ortiz hit .464 with three home runs and 10 RBI during the week.

Ortiz began the week with a three-game stretch against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks where the outfielder went 6-12 with four runs scored, two doubles, two home runs, and six RBI. He went 1-4 in the opener, with his lone hit being a solo home run. In the second game, Ortiz went 3-4, scoring two runs while adding a double and a homer. He drove in three in the contest. The Kansas City slugger closed out the series with a 2-4 performance, scoring a run, adding a double, and two RBI.

Next, the Monarchs traveled to take on the Sioux Falls Canaries and Ortiz was solid in the series, going 4-12 in the first three games with three runs scored, a homer, and three RBI. The outfielder went 1-3 in the opener, then hit a two-run homer in the second game of the series. On Sunday, Ortiz went 2-5 with two runs scored and RBI. While not included in the week, Monday’s contest saw the outfielder go 3-4 with a double and an RBI.

For the week, Ortiz was a combined 13-28 (.464) with three doubles, three home runs, seven runs scored, and 10 RBI. His RBI total led the league and he was third in slugging (.893), while posting an OPS of 1.393.

Jhailyn Ortiz was signed as an undrafted rookie out of the Dominican Republic in 2016 by the Philadelphia Phillies. He spent seven years in the Phillies organization, reaching AAA-Lehigh Valley in 2023. In seven seasons with the Phillies, the outfielder hit .233 with 101 home runs and 329 RBI in 627 games. He joined the Monarchs late in the season and is hitting .319 with four home runs and 11 RBI through his first 20 games.

Ortiz is the second Kansas City player to receive Player of the Week honors this season. Blake Rutherford earned the honors in Week 2.

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
Week 7 – Cornelius Randolph, Kane County Cougars
Week 8 – Hill Alexander, Cleburne Railroaders
Week 9 – Ryan Hernandez, Lake Country DockHounds
Week 10 – Josh Rehwaldt, Sioux Falls Canaries
Week 11 – Alex Baeza, Lincoln Saltdogs
Week 12 – Shed Long, Cleburne Railroaders
Week 13 – Curtis Terry, Lake Country DockHounds
Week 14 – Ryan Hernandez, Lake Country DockHounds
Week 15 – Dusty Stroup, Chicago Dogs
Week 16 – Josh Allen, Kane County Cougars

By Robert Pannier