Pair of 1st-time winners take home Player of the Week honors
A breakout happening before our eyes and perhaps MLB’s most clutch slugger were recognized on Monday, when Guardians outfielder Angel Martínez and Padres first baseman Gavin Sheets each took home their first career Player of the Week honor.
The 24-year-old Martínez went 7-for-19 at the plate with four home runs and seven RBIs, including a go-ahead two-run shot Saturday against the Reds, to help Cleveland go 5-1 on the week.
A switch-hitter riding a six-game hit streak, Martínez is now up to an .822 OPS with nine homers in his second extended stint in the Majors. Martínez posted just 11 long balls in 139 games in 2025. He's already the third Guardian to be named AL Player of the Week this year, joining Chase DeLauter (week of March 28) and José Ramírez (week of April 18).
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Sheets made late-game history last week, becoming the first player in MLB history to hit three go-ahead, three-run, ninth-inning home runs in a single season -- and he did so before May’s halfway point. He propelled San Diego to an improbable win over the Brewers on Wednesday when he took Milwaukee closer Abner Uribe deep with two outs in the ninth.
Sheets then followed that with a three-homer weekend against the Mariners, including a pair of dingers on Sunday. In total, the 30-year-old went 10-for-16 last week with four homers and eight RBIs. He raised his season batting average (.262) by 53 points and his OPS (.896) by a whopping 206.
Sheets is the first Padre to be named NL Player of the Week since Fernando Tatis Jr. in April 2025.
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Finally, Julio Rodríguez’s defense has been so good in his career that the 25-year-old's domain in center field has been dubbed the “No Fly Zone.” It’s literally plastered in the center-field stands of the Mariners’ T-Mobile Park. But how about making a robbing a dinger right in front of those signs?
Well, Rodríguez did exactly that this week, good enough for MLB’s Play of the Week.
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Rodríguez ranged to his left in Saturday’s game against the Padres after Rodolfo Durán clubbed what looked like it would be his second homer of the game (and the second homer of his career). But Rodríguez, as he’s done so often, said “No.”
He leaped with his back to the wall and snagged Durán’s fly ball -- well above the top of the wall -- before crashing to the ground, sprawled on his back after the exertion.