Kansas City T-Bones second baseman Jacob Blackwood has been named Rawlings Northern League Player of the Month for August.

Blackwood, who continues to make a strong push for the Triple Crown, collected a league-high 44 hits in the month of August. He batted .370 (44-for-119) with seven doubles and 12 home runs, while posting 26 runs scored and 27 RBI in the month. He collected at least one hit in 23 of 28 games, including a 10-game span where he smacked eight home runs. Through the games of August 31, Blackwood leads the league in batting (.344), home runs (30), and RBI (84). The Northern League has not seen a Triple Crown winner since Anthony Lewis of the Duluth-Superior Dukes in 2000 accomplished the feat.

The 6-0, 210-pounder, is playing his fifth season of professional baseball and second with the T-Bones. He first signed with Kansas City on June 25, 2009 and batted .288 over 63 games for Kansas City last season. He has earned three Player of the Week awards so far in 2010 - May 31, July 26, and August 16.

Blackwood was originally selected by the Florida Marlins in the 16th round of the 2006 amateur draft and played parts of four seasons in their organization. He was also drafted in the 40th round of the 2005 draft by the New York Mets, but did not sign.

Players also receiving Player of the Month votes were Blackwood’s teammate Ray Sadler and Kevin West of the Winnipeg Goldeyes.

This award for Blackwood comes on the heels of the T-Bones league-leading 10th weekly honor of the season. Newcomer Gabriel Martinez was recently selected as Player of the Week for the week ending August 29 after batting .423 (11-for-26) with two doubles, six home runs and 13 RBI in a six-game span. Martinez joins Kansas City after winning the 2010 Mexican League championship with Saltillo.