Elijah Dunham Named Eastern League Player of the Week
Official Somerset Patriots Press Release:
Bridgewater, NJ – Minor League Baseball has announced that Somerset Patriots OF Elijah Dunham has been named their Double-A Eastern League Player of the Week for August 8-14.
Across five games vs. the Hartford Yard Goats, Dunham went 9-for-20 (.450/.500/.800) with a 1.300 OPS, two home runs, seven RBIs and four runs. Over the weekend, Dunham collected homers in back-to-back games (six RBIs) for the second time this season, including a grand slam that capped the scoring in a 10-1 win on Sunday.
Dunham’s average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS all led the Eastern League during the week, while his seven RBIs tied for the most in the league with teammate Andres Chaparro.
The Player of the Week award is the first of Dunham’s career, coming in his second professional season since signing with the Yankees as a non-drafted free agent in 2020. During his rookie season in 2021, he was named an MiLB.com Yankees Organizational All-Star, as well as an Arizona Fall League Rising Star and AFL Breakout Player of the year.
Hitting safely in all five games played this week, Dunham has extended his career-best hit streak to 12 games, dating back to July 27 in Richmond.
Dunham went without an RBI for the first eight games of this streak with just nine hits, before erupting for seven RBI and eight hits over his last four games of the streak.
Over a larger sample size dating back to July 12, Dunham has hit safely in 20 of his last 21 games, slashing .329/.433/.592 with a 1.025 OPS, 16 runs, 14 RBIs and five home runs.
Dunham has spent the entire 2022 season with Somerset, leading the team in batting average (.268), slugging percentage (.482) and OPS (.838). His 15 home runs and 53 RBIs both rank second on the team behind Anthony Volpe.
Dunham is the sixth Patriot this season to receive MiLB honors and the first batter to win Player of the Week since OF Blake Perkins (April 18 – April 24). Additionally, four Patriots have won Pitcher of the Week: RHP Jhony Brito (April 25 – May 1), RHP Randy Vasquez (May 9 – May 15) and RHP Will Warren (July 4 – 11).
