TROY, NY - On Monday, the Frontier League of Professional Baseball announced that Tri-City ValleyCats’ outfielder and designated hitter Aaron Altherr earned the league’s final 2023 regular season “Player of the Week” honors for the week of August 28th to September 3rd. It was the second time he won this award after previously receiving this distinction for the week of June 12th to June 18th. 

Altherr, in his 14th professional season and first in independent baseball, kept the ValleyCats’ playoff hopes alive to the final day of the regular season. His 5-for-6 effort with two homers, a double, a walk, five RBI, and three runs on Saturday’s 16-14 10-inning victory over the Trois-Rivières Aigles at Stade Quillorama was crucial to the ‘Cats comeback from a 5-0 deficit. It was the first five-hit game from a Tri-City player this year. Altherr followed up Saturday’s performance with his second consecutive two-homer game in Sunday’s 11-9 victory. Altherr batted .462 (12-for-26) with five HR, two doubles, 10 RBI, six runs, and three walks in six games last week with three games against the Sussex County Miners at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium, and the final three games of the year on the road against the Aigles. Overall, Altherr paced the team with four four-plus RBI efforts, and four multi-homer games this season. He finished the 2023 campaign with 21 homers and 70 RBI, which was the fourth-most home runs, and the third-most RBI in a single season in the ValleyCats’ 21-season history.

Altherr was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the ninth round of the 2009 Draft out of Agua Fria High School. He played in their organization until 2019, and spent the 2014-2019 seasons at the Major League level. Altherr also spent parts of the 2019 campaign with the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets. He racked up 37 homers and 21 stolen bases in tune to a .708 OPS in 359 big league games. Altherr etched his name in the history books as he has the lone grand slam off three-time NL Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw, which came on September 18, 2017. The power-hitting slugger took his talents abroad to the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) with the NC Dinos from 2020-21, where won the KBO championship with the Dinos in 2020. Altherr accumulated at least 30 homers and 20 stolen bases in each of his two years in South Korea. He did not play in South Korea or the States last year, instead he was with Germany for the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers for the first time since 2012.

Altherr is the seventh player in franchise history to earn a Frontier League weekly award. He is also the fourth ValleyCat this year to receive this distinction as outfielder Carson McCusker was named “Player of the Week” from May 30th to June 4th, Pavin Parks was named “Player of the Week” from July 14th to June 16th, and Dan Beebe was named “Pitcher of the Week” from July 14th to June 16th. In 2021, right-handed pitcher Josh Hiatt took home “Pitcher of the Week” honors before first baseman Brad Zunica earned a “Player of the Week” nod. In 2022, outfielder and designated hitter Denis Phipps was the lone ValleyCats player to take home a weekly honor.