Marcell Ozuna, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. named Players of the Week presented by Chevrolet
All-Star outfielder Marcell Ozuna of the Atlanta Braves has been chosen the National League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet, and outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays has been named the American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.
Ozuna earned his fourth career NL Player of the Week Award and his first with Atlanta, winning most recently as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals for the week ending June 17, 2018. Marcell also received a pair of weekly awards during his 2017 All-Star campaign with the Miami Marlins. All-Star Ronald Acuña Jr. was the most recent Braves player to win NL Player of the Week, doing so last year for the period ending April 13th. Gurriel, who also received Play of the Week honors last week, claimed his first career weekly award and is the first Blue Jays winner since his teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. collected two awards during his exciting 2019 rookie campaign.
Marcell Ozuna, Atlanta Braves (@thebigbear13ozuna)
- Posted a slash line of .464/.531/1.143 with eight runs scored, 13 hits, four doubles, five home runs, 13 RBI and four walks over seven games played.
- Recorded a prolific eight-game hitting streak from August 30th – September 6th, delivering nine extra-base hits and 15 RBI to lead Atlanta to six victories. Notched five multi-hit games, including a trio of three-hit efforts.
- Registered his first career three-home run game on September 1st against the Boston Red Sox. Marked the 24th three-homer game by a Braves player since 1900, and the first since Matt Kemp on April 29, 2017. His six RBI were the most by a Braves player in a single game since Jeff Francoeur drove in seven runs on April 12, 2008.
- This week’s Play of the Week recipient Adam Duvall also recorded his first three-homer game in the following contest on Wednesday. The duo became the first teammates in MLB history to post three-homer efforts in consecutive games.
- Ozuna became the 60th Dominican Republic-born player in Major League history to reach the 1,000-hit milestone during his historic contest on September 1st.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Toronto Blue Jays (@yunitogurriel)
- Batted .467 (14-for-30) with five runs scored, three doubles, two home runs, six RBI, three walks and a .767 slugging percentage across eight games.
- Among his AL counterparts, ranked first in hits (14) and total bases (23); tied for second in extra-base hits (5); third in batting average; and seventh in on-base percentage (.515) and slugging percentage.
- Finished his outstanding week in grand fashion on Sunday, delivering a season-best four hits with two runs scored and an RBI to propel Toronto to a 10-8 victory over the Red Sox.
- Following his excellent week at the plate, enters play today batting over .300 (.301) for the first time since August 6th to go along with 15 runs scored, 10 doubles, six home runs, 23 RBI and a .497 slugging percentage.
- Led by Gurriel’s recent hot stretch, the Blue Jays are currently in Postseason contention with a 23-18 (.561) record on the season, good for second in the AL East and 2.0 games ahead of the third-place New York Yankees.
Other noteworthy NL performances for the week included All-Star third baseman Eugenio Suárez (.364, 6 R, 5 HR, 12 RBI) of the Cincinnati Reds; All-Stars Michael Conforto (.444, 5 R, 12 H, 6 XBH) and Jacob deGrom (1-1, 1.38 ERA, 13.0 IP, 21 SO) of the New York Mets; shortstop Trea Turner (.382, 8 R, 13 H, 3 HR) of the Washington Nationals; outfielder Alex Dickerson (.500, 8 R, 4 2B, 3 HR) of the San Francisco Giants; All-Star starting pitcher Aaron Nola (1-1, 2.03 ERA, 13.1 IP, 29 SO) of the Philadelphia Phillies; and Marcell’s All-Star teammates Acuña Jr. (.417, 7 R, 4 HR, 5 RBI), Freddie Freeman (.346, 7 R, 9 H, 9 RBI) and Duvall (.310, 8 R, 3 2B, 5 HR).
Other noteworthy AL performances last week included All-Star outfielder Mike Trout (.400, 9 R, 3 2B, 3 HR, 6 RBI) of the Los Angeles Angels, who clubbed his franchise-record 300th career homer on Saturday; All-Star starting pitcher Shane Bieber (1-0, 0.82 ERA, 19 SO, 5 BB) of the Cleveland Indians; All-Star outfielder Michael Brantley (.346, 5 R, 4 XBH, 10 RBI) of the Houston Astros; All-Stars José Abreu (.333, 4 R, 4 XBH, 10 RBI) and Dallas Keuchel (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 10.0 IP, 6 SO) of the Chicago White Sox; outfielder Victor Reyes (.462, 6 R, 12 H, 4 XBH) of the Detroit Tigers; and Gurriel’s teammate Rowdy Tellez (.500, 7 R, 12 H, 2 HR).
PLAY OF THE WEEK
Home Run-Robbing Catch by Adam Duvall of the Atlanta Braves
September 4 vs. WSH – Watch It Here
Outfielder Adam Duvall of the Atlanta Braves earned his first career Play of the Week honor and is the fourth Braves player to accomplish the feat since the award was introduced in 2019, joining Acuña Jr., Nick Markakis and Charlie Culberson. Atlanta is the first Major League Club with four different recipients and overall awards. With no outs in the top of the fourth inning of Friday’s tilt against the Washington Nationals, Duvall ranged to deep left field before making a perfectly timed jump to rob a two-run home run. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Luis Robert’s fully-extended diving catch; Andrelton Simmon’s over-the-shoulder basket catch in shallow left field; Jo Adell’s lunging grab in the deep right-field corner; All-Star Nolan Arenado’s leaping throw across the diamond; and Isaiah Kiner-Falefa’s sliding catch into the wall in foul territory.