Keston Hiura, Ramón Laureano Named W.B. Mason Players Of The Week

Rookie second baseman Keston Hiura of the Milwaukee Brewers has been chosen the W.B. Mason National League Player of the Week and outfielder Ramón Laureano of the Oakland Athletics has been named the W.B. Mason American League Player of the Week. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Hiura earned his first career NL Player of the Week Award and is the second different Brewers player (third time) to take home weekly honors this season, joining his All-Star teammate Christian Yelich (April 1st and April 22nd). The last Brewers player to accomplish the feat other than Yelich was Aramis Ramirez on July 5, 2015. Laureano claimed his first career AL Player of the Week Award and is the third A’s winner thus far in 2019, joining his teammates Mike Fiers (May 13th) and Marcus Semien (June 10th).

In recognition of their Player of the Week Awards, Keston Hiura and Ramón Laureano will each be awarded a specially engraved watch courtesy of Artinian.

Keston Hiura, Milwaukee Brewers (@kestdaddy)

• Batted .517 (15-for-29) with seven runs scored, six doubles, two triples, a home run, eight RBI, two walks and two stolen bases across seven games played.
• Among NL leaders, finished the week first in hits, extra-base hits (9), doubles and slugging percentage (.966); tied for first in triples; second in total bases (28); third in batting average and on-base percentage (.548); and tied for third in stolen bases.
• Enters play today in the midst of an 11-game hitting streak dating back to July 7th, including eight multi-hit efforts and a trio of three-hit performances.
• Since the calendar flipped to July, Hiura has logged a hit in 15-of-17 contests, posting a slash line of .397/.453/.750 with 13 runs scored, eight doubles, two triples, four home runs, 14 RBI and five stolen bases over 17 games.

Ramón Laureano, Oakland Athletics (@ramonlaureano22)

• Across six games played, hit .542 (13-for-24) with 10 runs scored, six doubles, two home runs, a stolen base and a 1.042 slugging percentage.
• The standout defender clubbed his 20th home run of the season in Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Twins. Became the fourth center fielder in Oakland history to reach the mark in a single season, joining Coco Crisp, Dave Henderson and Dwayne Murphy.
• On Wednesday against the Seattle Mariners, collected two doubles, a home run and three runs scored to lead Oakland to a 10-2 victory. Marked the 28th game in franchise history in which a player posted those totals-or-better in a single game, and the second this season (also Matt Chapman, April 10th).
• Recorded a five-game streak with at least two hits and a run scored from July 16th-20th, becoming the first A’s player since Billy Burns in 2015 to accomplish the feat.

Other noteworthy NL performances last week included shortstop Brandon Crawford (.313, 6 R, 3 HR, 12 RBI), outfielder Alex Dickerson (.522, 8 R, 6 XBH, 6 RBI) and outfielder Mike Yastrzemski (.382, 13 H, 3 2B, 4 HR) of the San Francisco Giants; All-Star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. (.345, 7 R, 2 XBH, 7 SB) of the Atlanta Braves; starting pitcher Jack Flaherty (2 GS, 0.79 ERA, 11.1 IP, 15 SO) of the St. Louis Cardinals; first baseman Anthony Rizzo (.550, 11 H, 4 2B, 8 RBI) of the Chicago Cubs; All-Star infielder Ketel Marte (.478, 4 2B, 2 3B, 5 RBI) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; All-Star outfielder Cody Bellinger (7 R, 3 HR, 4 RBI, .714 SLG), infielder Kiké Hernández (.455, 2 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBI) and All-Star starter Clayton Kershaw (1-0, 0.75 ERA, 12.0 IP, 17 SO) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; and Keston’s teammate Yelich (.435, 8 R, 5 XBH, 8 RBI).

Other noteworthy AL performances were rookie outfielder Oscar Mercado (.407, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 3 SB) of the Cleveland Indians; All-Star outfielder Mookie Betts (.414, 8 R, 4 XBH, 6 RBI) and third baseman Rafael Devers (.300, 3 2B, 3 HR, 11 RBI) of the Boston Red Sox; first baseman/outfielder Trey Mancini (.444, 7 R, 3 2B, 4 HR) of the Baltimore Orioles; starting pitchers Jakob Junis (2-0, 0.69 ERA, 13.0 IP, 17 SO) and Glenn Sparkman (1-1, 2.45 ERA, 1 CG SHO, 9 SO) of the Kansas City Royals; All-Star outfielders Michael Brantley (.474, 6 R, 3 HR, 6 RBI) and George Springer (.320, 7 R, 4 HR, 8 RBI) of the Houston Astros; starter Mike Leake (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 CG SHO, 1 H) of the Seattle Mariners; and designated hitter Edwin Encarnación (6 R, 4 HR, 11 RBI, .741 SLG) of the New York Yankees.

PLAY OF THE WEEK

Home Run-Robbing Catch by Lorenzo Cain of the Milwaukee Brewers

July 18th at ARI – Watch It Here

Outfielder Lorenzo Cain of the Milwaukee Brewers earned his third Play of the Week honor of the season, previously winning for the weeks ending March 28th and April 26th. Cain is the only player in the Majors with multiple honors. In the bottom of the first inning of Thursday night’s tilt at Chase Field, Cain ranged back to deep right-center field before making a leaping catch at the wall and robbing Eduardo Escobar of a home run. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Jeff McNeil’s acrobatic catch in the right field corner at Oracle Park; Javier Báez’s no-look tag on an attempted stolen base; Albert Almora Jr.’s sliding catch over his shoulder at the warning track; José Iglesias’ backhanded grab while chasing a popup in shallow left field; and Billy Hamilton’s leaping catch at the wall to rob Francisco Lindor of an extra-base hit.