Down East's Tejeda leads weekly honorees

After a forgettable April, Anderson Tejeda turned things around at the plate for Class A Advanced Down East when the calendar flipped to May.

The Rangers' No. 11 prospect punctuated his hot month with Carolina League Offensive Player of the Week honors for May 21-27, slashing .414/.452/.793 with three home runs, eight RBIs, six runs scored and two doubles. It is the first such award for the 20-year-old shortstop.

The native of the Dominican Republic has his performance from Sunday to thank for propelling him toward the award. Tejeda homered twice and tied career highs in hits, RBIs and runs scored with four apiece against Frederick.

"I feel the biggest adjustment I've been able to make has been laying off bad pitches," Tejeda said after the game through translator and Down East trainer Alex Rodriguez. "I'm not chasing like I was last year. When you go after good pitches, you're more likely to get the barrel of the bat on the ball."

• View the Pitcher of the Week winners »

Tejeda has eight homers and 41 RBIs on the season to go with 11 doubles and three triples. The 20-year-old has already matched the number of home runs he hit in 2017 and is two shy of tying the career high he set in 2016 across three levels. His season slash line stands at .270/.337/.492.

"I'm trying to go the other way a lot more instead of always pulling the ball," Tejeda said. "That's been a big key to my success lately. But mostly I'm trying to stay with what I've done and established in Spring Training. I'm having a good month and I'm having fun. You need to enjoy the highs, battle through the lows and take it one day at a time."

Here are the complete Offensive Player of the Week winners for May 21-27:

League	Player	Team	MLB	Stats
International	Danny Santana	Gwinnett	ATL	.333/.333/.917, 6 G, 8-for-24, 2 2B, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 7 R, 0 BB, 8 K
Pacific Coast	Humberto Arteaga	Omaha	KC	.615/.593/.885, 7 G, 16-for-26, 2 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 5 RBI, 6 R, 0 BB, 5 K
Eastern	Cedric Mullins	Bowie	BAL	.560/.607/.680, 6 G, 14-for-25, 1 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 5 RBI, 9 R, 3 BB, 3 K, 3 SB
Southern	Jake Gatewood	Biloxi	MIL	.375/.444/.917, 7 G, 9-for-24, 4 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 5 R, 3 BB, 7 K
Texas	Elier Hernandez	Northwest Arkansas	KC	.500/.533/.857, 7 G, 14-for-28, 5 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 7 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 CS
California	Buddy Reed	Lake Elsinore	SD	.476/.520/1.190, 6 G, 10-for-21, 1 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 8 R, 3 BB, 7 K, 5 SB
Carolina	Anderson Tejeda	Down East	TEX	.414/.452/.793, 7 G, 12-for-29, 2 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 6 R, 2 BB, 8 K, 2 CS
Florida State	Albert Baur	Bradenton	PIT	.370/.433/.963, 7 G, 10-for-27, 2 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 8 R, 3 BB, 5 K
Midwest	Eduardo Diaz	Kane County	ARI	.391/.417/.870, 6 G, 9-for-23, 1 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 5 R, 1 BB, 6 K
South Atlantic	Bret Boswell	Asheville	COL	.452/.469/.710, 8 G, 14-for-31, 3 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 6 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 1 SB, 1 CS