First baseman Miguel Cabrera has been selected as the Tiger of the Year for 2008 in voting by the Detroit Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Cabrera batted .292 (180x616) with 36 doubles, two triples, 37 home runs and 127 RBI in his first season with the Tigers. He led the American League with the 37 home runs, becoming the first Tigers player to lead the league in home runs since Cecil Fielder tied for the lead with 44 home runs in 1991.

He tied for the league lead with 331 total bases, while he finished third with 127 RBI, fifth with 75 extra-base hits and seventh with a .537 slugging percentage. According to STATS, Inc., his 127 RBI marked the third-highest total by a Tigers player in his first season with the club, trailing Dale Alexander’s 137 RBI in 1929 and Cecil Fielder’s 132 RBI in 1990.

Cabrera was twice tabbed American League Player of the Week during the 2008 season. He shared the honor with Manny Ramirez during the week of April 14-20, while earning the honor outright during the week of July 21-27. He was also named American League Player of the Month during July after batting .330 (35x106) with 15 runs scored, six doubles, eight home runs and 31 RBI in 25 games during the month.

He collected his 1,000th career hit on September 7 at Minnesota, a solo home run in the sixth inning off Glen Perkins. According to STATS, Inc., he became the fifth-youngest player, at 25 years, 142 days old, since 1954 to collect 1,000 career hits.