Cubs News: Seiya Suzuki named NL Player of the Week |
Left fielder Taylor Ward of the Los Angeles Angels has been selected the American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet, and designated hitter/outfielder Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs has been named the National League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.
Ward won his second career award after previously winning on May 2, 2022, and it marks the first award for the Angels since Luis Rengifo won on September 5, 2023. Suzuki also earned his second career honor after previously winning on April 18, 2022, and it is the second honor for the Cubs this year, following Kyle Tucker’s award on April 7th. This season marks the first in which the Cubs have won multiple awards since collecting three honors in 2021 (Kris Bryant, Patrick Wisdom & Frank Schwindel). Taylor Ward, Los Angeles Angels (@taylorward.7) The 31-year-old hit .407 (11-for-27) with three homers, 12 RBI, four doubles, a triple, two walks, nine runs scored, a .963 slugging percentage and .419 on-base percentage. The eight-year veteran led the Majors in RBI, extra-base hits (8) and total bases (26); tied for first in runs scored; trailed only Suzuki in slugging and OPS (1.382); tied for third in doubles; tied for fourth in hits; and tied for seventh in batting average. Ward closed out a 10-game hitting streak with a double on Saturday against Miami and set a franchise record with an extra-base hit in all 10 games, surpassing Darin Erstad’s previous record of nine consecutive games from April 7-18, 1998. His 10-game streak with an extra-base hit was one short of tying the Major League record, and marked the longest in the Majors since teammate Anthony Rendon also had an extra-base hit in 10 straight contests for the Nationals from April 2-13, 2019. The 26th overall selection of the 2015 Draft (by LAA) tallied three straight multi-hit games, including a pair of three-hits games on Wednesday and Thursday against the Athletics in Sacramento. After falling a home run short of the cycle on Wednesday, he tied his career high with five RBI on Thursday, joining five-RBI performances on May 26, 2021 against Texas and May 14, 2022 at Oakland. His day was highlighted with a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning, marking his sixth career grand slam, which are tied for third-most in Angels’ history with Don Baylor, Brian Downing, Tim Salmon and Mike Trout, trailing only Garret Anderson (8) and Joe Rudi (7). The Fresno State product tallied at least one hit, an RBI and a run scored in eight consecutive games from May 17th-24th, becoming the second Angel with at least one of each in at least eight straight games, joining Jared Walsh, who had at least one hit, an RBI and a run scored in nine consecutive games from September 6-17, 2020. It was the longest such streak in the Majors since Corey Seager had eight straight games with a hit, RBI and run scored for the Rangers from July 8-15, 2022. Seiya Suzuki, Chicago Cubs The 30-year-old hit .480 (12-for-25) with three homers, 10 RBI, four doubles, four walks, nine runs scored, a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .552 on-base percentage. The Japan native led the Majors in batting average, slugging and OPS (1.552); tied for first in hits and runs scored; ranked second in on-base percentage and total bases; tied for second in extra-base hits (7); and tied for third in doubles. The five-time Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star had three hits, two extra-base hits, at least three RBI and at least two runs scored on Tuesday at Miami, and Thursday and Sunday at Cincinnati, homering in all three contests. He broke an 8-8 tie on Sunday with a homer in the eighth inning, marking his 14th longball of the year and his third career go-ahead homer in the eighth inning-or-later. The 2020 Olympic Gold Medalist with Japan leads the Majors with 49 RBI this season, and his seven games with at least three RBI are tied with Teoscar Hernández for second-most in the Majors, trailing only Eugenio Suárez’s eight such contests. Additionally, his five games this year with at least three RBI and multiple extra-base hits are tied with Alex Bregman for the most in the Majors. His 13 such career games are tied with Hideki Matsui for second-most by a Japanese-born player, trailing only Shohei Ohtani’s 29 career games with at least three RBI and multiple extra-base hits. Suzuki has hit safely in each of his last seven contests and has reached base safely in each of his last 11 games since May 14th. His 11-game on-base streak is tied for the second-longest stretch in his career, behind a pair of 16-game streaks from September 1-16, 2023 and September 9-29, 2024. Other noteworthy AL performances for the week included reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal (1-0, 1.84 ERA, 2 GS, 1 SHO, 14.2 IP, 7 H, 1 BB, 21 SO) of the Detroit Tigers; third baseman Isaac Paredes (.367, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 1 2B, 1 BB, 7 R, .800 SLG) of the Houston Astros; a pair of Athletics rookies, first baseman Nick Kurtz (.333, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 5 BB, 5 R, .905 SLG) and shortstop Jacob Wilson (.455, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 2B, 3 BB, 3 R, .556 OBP); Ward’s teammate, catcher Logan O’Hoppe (.370, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 1 2B, 1 BB, 6 R, .852 SLG); starting pitcher Kris Bubic (1-0, 0.64 ERA, 2 GS, 14.0 IP, 4 H, 5 BB, 14 SO) of the Kansas City Royals; designated hitter Rafael Devers (.308, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 1 2B, 5 BB, 6 R) of the Boston Red Sox; utilityman Ryan O’Hearn (.462, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 2B, 4 BB, 4 R, 1 SB, .548 OBP) of the Baltimore Orioles; second baseman Brandon Lowe (.400, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 1 BB, 6 R, .950 SLG) of the Tampa Bay Rays; and reigning AL MVP Award winner Aaron Judge (.364, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 1 2B, 4 BB, 6 R, 1 SB, .818 SLG) of the New York Yankees. Other noteworthy NL performances last week included shortstop Trea Turner (.400, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 2 2B, 1 3B, 3 BB, 8 R, 4 SB, .833 SLG), designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (.250, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 1 2B, 9 BB, 9 R) and starting pitcher Jesús Luzardo (1-0, 2.77 ERA, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 11 H, 4 BB, 20 SO) of the Philadelphia Phillies; starting pitcher Robbie Ray (1-0, 0.69 ERA, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 9 H, 1 BB, 14 SO) of the San Francisco Giants; Suzuki’s teammates, center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (.259, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 1 2B, 5 R) and right fielder Kyle Tucker (.385, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB, 6 R, 2 SB); designated hitter/outfielder Gavin Sheets (.292, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 4 R, .792 SLG) of the San Diego Padres; center fielder TJ Friedl (.407, 2 RBI, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 BB, 6 R) of the Cincinnati Reds; reliever Trevor Megill (0.00 ERA, 4 G, 3 SV, 4.0 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 SO) of the Milwaukee Brewers; and second baseman Adam Frazier (.476, 4 RBI, 2 2B, 3 BB, 2 R, .542 OBP) of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
