The following is a press release directly from the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. It is reprinted here in its entirety.

Former Natural Hosmer selected as AL Rookie of the Month
Louis Coleman also nominated for award for month of July

KANSAS CITY, MO – Kansas City Royals first baseman and former Natural Eric Hosmer has been voted the July recipient of the Gillette presents American League Rookie of the Month Award.

Hosmer led A.L. rookies with 34 hits and 12 doubles in 27 games during the month of July. The 21-year-old also added five home runs, 19 RBI, 12 runs scored and three stolen bases with a .523 slugging percentage and a .358 on-base percentage.

Hosmer, who was the third overall selection in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft, recorded a career-best 11-game hitting streak from July 19^th-30^th, batting .426 (20-for-47) during the streak with a home run, five doubles, eight RBI and seven runs scored.

The left-handed-hitting slugger posted 10 multi-hit contests during the month, including a four-hit contest on July 3^rd at Colorado in which Hosmer tied a career-best with four RBI. Hosmer has now collected 27 multi-hit games on the season to lead all A.L. rookies. On July 15^th at Target Field in Minnesota, Eric connected on a game-winning, two-out, two-run home run in the top of the ninth to give the Royals a 2-1 victory over the Twins. In a four-game set against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park from July 25^th-28^th, Hosmer batted .421 (8-for-19) with two doubles, a home run and five RBI.

Of Hosmer’s ten home runs since being called up to the Majors on May 6^th, four have given the Royals a lead while two have tied the game. The Florida native leads the Royals with 16 go-ahead RBI and nine game-winning RBI this season. Among A.L. rookies, Hosmer ranks first in on-base percentage (.333) and walks (23); second in hits (89), doubles (19) and total bases (142); third in batting average (.284), home runs (10), RBI (47), slugging percentage (.454) and extra-base hits (31); and fourth in runs (33).

Hosmer hit 13 homers, drove in 35 runs, and batted .313 for the Naturals in the second half of last season before erupting for six homers during the Texas League Playoffs, tying a league record as the Naturals won the Texas League Championship.

Another former Natural, Hosmer’s teammate Louis Coleman, was among the nominees for the award. Coleman, who has been stellar in the Royals’ pen all season, posted an 0.61 ERA in ten appearances. The right-handed sidewinder and 2010 Texas League All-Star reliever allowed just nine hits and five walks while fanning 15 in 14 2/3 innings.

Hosmer will receive a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved, to commemorate his Rookie of the Month performance.

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals and play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark, located in Springdale. Visit our website, nwanaturals.com, for information on season tickets and ticket plans.

The Royals are off to a 6-3 start in the AL central. The team is getting clutch performances from different players. Let’s see what the upcoming week looks like.

The Royals will play two at Minnesota this week then return home for a four game series with the Mariners and draw one of the tougher offensive schedules of the week. They get two Twin lefties in Brian Duensing and Francisco Liriano then at home they have Doug Fister, Eric Bedard, Felix Hernandez and Michael Pineda.

The top half of the lineup is hitting well led by Billy Butler and Alex Gordon. The slow start for Mike Aviles has meant more time for Chris Getz at the top of the lineup. Getz has capitalized and he gets an instant boost in value, as he will gain more at-bats, which gives more opportunity to steal and be driven in by the heart of the line-up. In limited action last year he stole 15 and the year before swiped 25.

Who’s Hot and Who’s Not:

HOT:

Billy Butler has hit in all 8 games he’s played in April. This week he went 9-17 and had four multi hit games. Early on, he is walking more and striking out less with a great .270 ISO.

Jeff Francis has seen his ground ball rates at 58% in the early goings and has a nice K/BB ratio of 4.00. This gives him a 1.98 ERA with a 1.10 WHIP through two starts. His BABIP has actually been unlucky at .268 but his LOB% is unsustainable at 98.4%, expect some regression to come. However as a two-start pitcher this week, Francis is good to go pitching in Target Field and matching up against a puny Seattle lineup is a nice draw.

Alex Gordon is starting to show glimpses that he may live up to his potential. He continued hitting this week going 9-20. Even though he is hitting the ball well, he may come back down to earth a bit this week. He faces three left-handers and has only hit .222 in his career versus southpaws. Plus he faces King Felix and has a .111 career average against him. If you have a better outfield option, this would be a week to consider it. Another good play would be to seek out his trade value, as it is most likely pretty high right now.

NOT:

Mike Aviles has started cold going 3-26. Wilson Betemit has seen more time at third. Manager Ned Yost said he would mix in players in the infield so this will not mean a permanent loss of time for Aviles.

Scott Yerbic is on vacation this week, so we reached out to our parent site, BaseballDigest.com, who kindly sent us a temporary fill in with Matt Wilson to bring you this week’s Fantasy Report.

Though the Royals are looking toward the future, there are a few guys to watch for this week on your fantasy radar.

After surgery on his rotator cuff, Jason Kendall will miss the remainder of the season. Brayan Pena and Lucas May (acquired in the Scott Posednik deal with the Dodgers) will share the catching duties but neither will hold much value down the stretch. Pena has the better eye of the two while May has flashed some pop in the minors this season (40 extra base hits). May has the better upside of the two offensively but his defense has been erratic.

Mitch Maier may benefit a bit from the Kendall injury. He will slide into the second spot in the lineup. Royals hitting coach, Kevin Seitzer explained that he fit the two-hole best of everyone on the team. Seitzer keeps a detailed situational hitting report, and Maier has an even better rating than Kendall at that spot in the lineup. The biggest impact will be in the Runs column and of course seeing some better pitches by batting in front of Billy Butler.

Butler is a must start in all formats. He has had struggles at Target Field and with the Twins starters he’ll face there this week, but with a career mark near .300 Butler is a solid start. He also has hit .429 in his last 7 games. The only question with Butler is where has the power gone? Many anticipated improvement from the 21 HR he hit a year ago. Instead, he has regressed. The 24 year-old has taken some nice strides at the plate striking out less and walking more. It may just be that Butler is a 15-20 HR guy for now with a possible breakout coming in the next couple years. With an average in the .300’s and the power potential, I’ll take it and so should you.

With the Royals visiting the Twins and White Sox this week, it would be hard to justify starting anyone in their rotation outside of Zach Greinke. Even Greinke has struggled against the Twins at Target Field this season posting two losses and a 7.20 ERA in his two starts there. His last start against the Twins he was shelled surrendering 6 runs in the first inning and 8 through four innings in a 19-1 shellacking. Last season, I would never try to talk you out of starting Greinke. This season, I’d at least think about it. There are lots of numbers I’m not liking here, but since I’ve pointed that out I’m sure he’ll respond by throwing a “no-no.”

There are guys who should stay on your radar in keeper leagues. Alex Gordon is hard to give up on. Mike Moustakas is the leading name on the list of Royals to like in 2010. He will compete for the 3B job next spring. He was awarded the George Brett Hitter of the Year honor this last week. His minor league line this season: .326 with 34 HR and 120 RBI between AA and AAA. He won’t get a call-up this September but if your league allows you to claim minor leaguers he’s one to keep in mind.