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 Chicago Dogs shortstop Josh Altmann as the American Association Player of the Month for the month of May.

Dogs SS Josh Altmann Named May Player of the Month

On Thursday, This Week in the Association and the Minor League Sports Report named Chicago Dogs shortstop Josh Altmann as the American Association Player of the Month for the month of May. Altmann had a spectacular month, finishing with a .424 batting average while hitting seven home runs and driving in 25.

Altmann started off the season by going 0-3, but has gone hitless in just one of the other 15 games the team has played. He has reached base at least once in every contest this season.

The season began with Chicago facing the Lincoln Saltdogs. Altmann went 4-9 with four runs scored, two home runs, and four RBI against his former team. That included a 3-4 performance in the second game of the season, a contest where he scored two runs and hit his first home run of the year. The shortstop then closed the series with a 1-2 performance, with his only hit a three-run homer.

Next, Chicago took on the Kane County Cougars. Altmann was 6-12 in the series, scoring two runs, hitting two more homers, and driving in seven. As he had in the first series of the season, Altmann hit home runs in each of the final two games of the set, and drove in at least two runs in all three contests, including three in the second game of the series.

The Dogs then welcomed the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks and Altmann continued to roll, going 3-8 in the series with four runs scored, his fifth home run of the year, and two RBI. He walked four times in the series and scored four runs.

Chicago then traveled to Cleburne, to take on the Railroaders. The six-game set saw Altmann go 11-27 with five runs scored, 11 RBI, and he added two home runs. Altmann posted two contests where he went 3-5 with two doubles in each of those games, also driving in two runs in each contest.

The Dogs closed out May with a three-game set against the Winnipeg Goldeyes. Altmann us 4-10 through the first two games of the series, scoring a run and driving in another. He also has added two doubles.

For the month, Altmann finished 28-66 with 16 run scored, six doubles, two triples, seven home runs, and 25 RBI. His batting average is second in the American Association (.424), and he is tied for second in home runs (7). Altmann is first in slugging (.846), first in OPS (1.400), and second in on-base percentage (.506).

This is the third year for Josh Altmann in the American Association. He was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 22nd of the 2015 draft, and spent the next five years in the Rangers organization, reaching AA-Frisco in 2019. In 2021, Altmann joined the Lincoln Saltdogs, and was an MVP candidate after hitting 29 homers and posting a .305 batting average. He hit .269 with 15 home runs last season.

By Robert Pannier