A Royal and a Friar net Player of the Week honors

After a dominating week, Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino and Padres third baseman Manny Machado were named the Players of the Week presented by Chevrolet on Monday.

Pasquantino showed pitchers why his nickname is the "Italian Nightmare," as he batted .455 with four home runs and six RBIs across six games for the Royals. Pasquantino opened his week in fine fashion by recording a home run in both games of a doubleheader against the White Sox last Tuesday before ending the week with a home run and two RBIs in the Royals' 4-0 win over the Dodgers on Sunday.

“Statistically, it was a good week for me. More importantly, though, 7-4 homestand against some pretty good teams," Pasquantino said. "Every team we played is in the hunt for the playoffs in some way, shape or form, so that’s exciting. Those are the kind of games that we want to be in, and we want to be in them more. So that’s kind of our mindset. Individual things aside, we all just want to play well and be in bigger games.”

Pasquantino is batting .260 in 41 games with Kansas City after being called up at the end of June. He's the first Royal to be named Player of the Week since Andrew Benintendi earned the honor last September.

“I was doing a crossword and MLB Network was on, and they announced it," Pasquantino said. "I heard my name and I don’t know who was hosting MLB Network at the time, but they had trouble saying my last name. So that’s kind of when I perked up. I kind of heard somebody trying to say the name, which is kind of funny.”

For Machado, it was another week of domination in what could end up becoming an MVP season. With superstars Juan Soto and Josh Bell sandwiching him in the Padres' lineup, Machado feasted last week, batting .429 with two home runs, 10 RBIs, seven runs and 12 hits.

"The numbers always look good," Padres manager Bob Melvin said. "But I think the fact that, you know, here recently he's got Soto in front of him and Bell behind him, he's got a little insulation there. So yes, I always feel like there's there's a streak coming from [Manny]."

Machado recorded multiple hits in five of the six games he played, and he tallied multiple RBIs in four of those five games. His best performance came last Tuesday, when he mashed a three-run, walk-off home run in San Diego’s 7-4 come-from-behind win over the Giants.

This is the seventh time Machado has won the Player of the Week Award in his career, third time with San Diego, with his last win coming in August 2020. He’s the first Padre to win the award since Jake Cronenworth won it last June.

"It feels like [Manny's] got a chance to be Player of the Week every week," Melvin said. "So looking at the numbers, today certainly suits him -- probably not the first time he's won this award. It's kind of what Manny does, so not a surprise."