San Diego’s Luis Arraez named National League Player of the Week Presented by Chevrolet; Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. named American League Player of the Week Presented by Chevrolet

San Diego Padres infielder Luis Arraez has been selected the National League Player of the Wee**k presented by Chevrolet, and Kansas City Royals shortstop **Bobby Witt Jr. has been named the American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Arraez earned his first career Player of the Week Award and is the first Padres player to win since Juan Soto won on September 18^th of last year. Witt Jr. also claimed his first career honor and is the first member of the Royals to win since Vinnie Pasquantino on August 15, 2022. Since his father, pitcher Bobby Sr., won on July 3, 1994, the Witt’s now becomes the 14^th father-son combo to win at least one Player of the Week Award and the first to join the club since Dante and Bo Bichette joined the club in 2022.

*Luis Arraez, San Diego Padres (*@arraezluis)

• The 27-year-old hit .472 (17-for-36) with a homer, four RBI, two doubles, two runs scored, a stolen base, a .611 slugging percentage and a .472 on-base percentage in eight games last week.
• The Venezuelan native led the Majors in batting average and hits (17); led the NL in OBP, OPS (1.083) and total bases (22); and ranked fifth in the NL in slugging.
• The reigning Tony Gwynn National League Batting Champion had back-to-back four hit games on Wednesday and Thursday at Cincinnati, becoming became the fifth Padres player to have consecutive games with at least four hits, joining Jon Jay (2016), Cameron Maybin (2011), Reggie Sanders (1999) and Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn (1993).
• The 2022 Rod Carew American League Batting Champion began his week with five straight multi-hit games, capping off a career-long streak of eight straight games with multiple hits, which began on May 14^th. Over the eight-game stretch, he batted .526 (20-for-38) with a homer, four RBI, two doubles, one walk, four runs scored and a 1.196 OPS.
• The two-time All-Star has reached base safely in 20 of his 21 games since joining the Padres in a trade from the Marlins on May 4^th. He has hit safely in 18 of the 21 games with multiple hits in 11 of the contests. Overall, he has hits in 42 of his 54 games this season, and his 76 hits are the most in the Majors.

Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals (@bwitter7)

• The 23-year-old hit .385 (10-for-26) with four homers, 11 RBI, two doubles, three walks, six runs scored, a stolen base, a .923 slugging percentage and a .433 on-base percentage in six games last week.
• The Texas native tied for the Major League lead in RBI and total bases (24); tied for second in homers and extra-base hits (6); ranked third in slugging and OPS (1.356); and ranked seventh in batting average.
• The second overall pick of the 2019 MLB Draft hit two home runs on Wednesday against Detroit, marking his fourth career multi-homer game. He tied his career high with six RBI in the contest, after he also drove home six on July 28^th of last season against the Twins.
• The shortstop recorded multiple hits four times last week, which included a three-hit game on Tuesday against the Tigers. He had an RBI in five straight games from Tuesday through Sunday, marking the fourth time in his career he has recorded at least one RBI in five straight games.
• Overall, Witt Jr. hit safely in all six of his games last week and is currently riding a 10-game hitting streak, the third longest streak of his career behind a 13-game streak from September 16-October 1, 2022 and an 11-game streak from April 21-May 3, 2022. During the current streak, he is batting .372 (16-for-43) with four homers, 13 RBI, a .791 slugging percentage and a 1.187 OPS.

Other noteworthy NL performances last week included starting pitcher Chris Sale (2-0, 0.64 ERA, 2 GS, 14.0 IP, 9 H, 1 BB, 17 SO) and first baseman Matt Olson (.265, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 5 R) of the Atlanta Braves; shortstop Ezequiel Tovar (.367, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 2B, 1 BB, 6 R, .667 SLG) of the Colorado Rockies; starting pitchers Braxton Garrett (1-0, 1 GS, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 6 SO) and Ryan Weathers (1-0, 0.69 ERA, 13.0 IP, 6 H, 15 SO) of the Miami Marlins; outfielder Bryan Reynolds (.321, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 2 R, .536 SLG) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; catcher Patrick Bailey (.368, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 2 2B, 1 BB, 4 R, .632 SLG) of the San Francisco Giants; outfielder Teoscar Hernández (.389, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 3 2B, 4 BB, 2 R, .722 SLG) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; outfielder Ian Happ (.400, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 2B, 2 BB, 3 R, 1.000 SLG) of the Chicago Cubs; shortstop Masyn Winn (.444, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 4 2B, 1 BB, 3 R, .833 SLG) and starting pitcher Sonny Gray (2-0, 0.84 ERA, 2 GS, 10.2 IP, 4 H, 4 BB, 14 SO) of the St. Louis Cardinals; closer Alexis Díaz (0.00 ERA, 4 G, 3 SV, 3.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 SO) of the Cincinnati Reds; and starting pitcher Ranger Suárez (1-1, 3.46 ERA, 13.0 IP, 19 SO) of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Other noteworthy AL performances for the week included third baseman José Ramírez (.348, 4 HR, 11 RBI, 2 2B, 3 BB, 7 R, 1 SB, .957 SLG), closer Emmanuel Clase (0.00 ERA, 4 G, 4 SV, 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 2 SO), utilityman David Fry (.462, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 5 BB, 5 R, .923 SLG, .632 OBP) and starting pitcher Ben Lively (2-0, 2.13 ERA, 2 GS, 12.2 IP, 12 SO) of the Cleveland Guardians; shortstop Bo Bichette (.448, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 3 2B, 4 R, .655 SLG) of the Toronto Blue Jays; outfielder Aaron Judge (.375, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 3 2B, 5 BB, 9 R, 1.000 SLG) and starting pitcher Marcus Stroman (1-0, 0.68 ERA, 2 GS, 13.1 IP, 2 BB, 11 SO) of the New York Yankees; starting pitcher Kyle Bradish (1-0, 0.75 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 4 H, 17 SO) of the Baltimore Orioles; outfielder Kerry Carpenter (.333, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 1 2B, 4 BB, 6 R, .889 SLG) and infielder/outfielder Matt Vierling (.412, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 1 3B, 3 BB, 4 R, .882 SLG) of the Detroit Tigers; and starting pitcher Tanner Houck (1-0, 0.69 ERA, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 2 BB, 12 SO) of the Boston Red Sox.

Electric Play of the Week presented by Chevrolet

Game-ending Barehanded Grab and Off-Balance Throw to First by Matt Chapman of the San Francisco Giants

May 24 at Citi Field – Watch It Here

Third baseman Matt Chapman of the San Francisco Giants earned his second career Play of the Week Award, marking his first in the National League after winning once in the AL (8/16/2021 w/ OAK). He is one of four players to win the Award in both leagues, joining Jackie Bradley Jr., Jonathan Davis and Mike Tauchman. Overall, it is the third honor for the Giants after winning for a team play on August 13, 2021, and initially winning on May 4, 2019, when Kevin Pillar took home the honor. With the Giants leading the Mets, 8-7, and the bases loaded on a full count with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Mark Vientos hit a dribbler up the third base line that would have at least tied the game if not for Chapman’s flawless barehanded stop and off-balance throw to first base to end the game. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Colton Cowser’s game-ending home run robbery; Ha-Seong Kim's sliding over-the-shoulder catch; Stuart Fairchild’s leaping catch at the wall; and CJ Abrams’ diving stop and spinning throw from his knees.