Rafael Devers, Carter Jensen named National League, American League Player of the Week

First baseman Rafael Devers of the San Francisco Giants has been named the National League Player of the Week, and rookie catcher Carter Jensen of the Kansas City Royals has been selected the American League Player of the Week. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Devers earned his fifth career award and second with the Giants after winning his first award in the National League on September 2^nd of last year, which also marks the last award for San Francisco. Prior to Devers’ honor last September, he won three times as a member of the Boston Red Sox, including August 19, 2019; September 18, 2023; and May 12, 2025. He is the first Giant to win an award at least once in consecutive seasons since Buster Posey won in 2013 and 2014. Jensen earned his first career honor, marking the second award for Kansas City this season after Bobby Witt Jr. earned the recognition on May 11^th. Jensen is the first Royals rookie to win the award since Vinnie Pasquantino earned his first career honor on August 15, 2022. Additionally, Jensen is the first Royals catcher to win the award since his teammate Salvador Perez on August 30, 2021.

Rafael Devers, San Francisco Giants (@rafael.devers)

• The 29-year-old hit .385 (10-for-26) with six homers, 13 RBI, two doubles, seven walks, eight runs scored, a 1.154 slugging percentage and a .515 on-base percentage across seven contests.
• The Sanchez, Dominican Republic native led the Majors in home runs, RBI, extra-base hits (8), and total bases (30); ranked second in slugging and OPS (1.669); tied for third in runs scored; tied for fourth in walks; and ranked seventh in on-base percentage.
• The three-time All-Star homered in five of his seven games, including each of his first three games to begin the week. It marked the ninth time in his career that he homered in at least three straight games within a single season and the second time he accomplished the feat in 2026 (also: August 24^th-26^th). Devers, who capped off his week with a pair of homers on Sunday at Citi Field, became the first Giants player with at least six home runs in a six-game span in a single season since Hunter Pence also had six longballs from September 10-15, 2013. He is the first Giants player to accomplish the feat with each of the six games being played on the road since Rich Aurilia in July 2001.
• The 2018 World Series Champion with Boston racked up five RBI as part of a three-hit day on Friday against the Mets, marking his 12^th career game with at least five RBI and his second this season (also: 5 RBI on 5/24). Since his debut in 2017, his 12 such games are tied with Pete Alonso for second-most in the Majors, trailing only Nelson Cruz, who had 13 games of at least five RBI between 2017-2023.
• The two-time Silver Slugger had three games with multiple RBI, capping off his week with three RBI on Saturday at Citi Field. After adding an RBI yesterday against St. Louis, he now has 92 RBI on the campaign, which are the most in a single season by a member of the Giants since Buster Posey had 95 RBI in 2015. Posey was also the last San Francisco player with a 100-RBI season, tallying 103 RBI en route to winning MVP in 2012. Devers is five homers shy of recording the first 40-homer season by a Giants player since Barry Bonds had 45 home runs in 2004.

Carter Jensen, Kansas City Royals (@carterjensenn)

• The 23-year-old hit .421 (8-for-19) with three homers, six RBI, three doubles, a triple, a walk, six runs scored, a 1.158 slugging percentage and a .476 on-base percentage across five games.
• The Kansas City, Missouri native ranked second in the Majors in extra-base hits (7); and tied for second in total bases (22). Among players with at least 20 plate appearances, he led the American League and tied for the Major League lead in slugging; ranked third in the Majors in OPS (1.634); and ranked ninth in the Majors in batting average.
• The rookie backstop opened his week with three straight multi-hit games, including a two-homer game on Wednesday against Miami. It marked the second two-homer game of his career after he also hit a pair of longballs on September 16^th of last season. His first blast of the game marked his sixth leadoff homer of the campaign, breaking the franchise record of five set by Johnny Damon in 1998 and matched by Alex Gordon in 2011. Per Elias, Jensen’s six leadoff homers have all come as a catcher, the most by a player at the position in a single season since 1900. His leadoff blast marked his 20^th homer of the season, becoming the 13^th rookie catcher in Baseball history with at least 20 home runs and just the second left-handed hitting catcher to do so.
• The third-round selection in the 2021 Draft followed the two-homer performance with three extra-base hits on Thursday against Miami, falling a single short of hitting for the cycle. Jensen became the first Royal with a double, triple and home run in a game in which he played catcher. He tallied multiple hits in three consecutive games for the second time in his career after also doing so earlier this season from April 21^st-24^th.
• The Park Hill (MO) High School product has 22 home runs on the year, matching Hall of Famer Carlos Beltrán (1999) and Bo Jackson (1987) for the second-most home runs in a rookie season in Royals’ history. He trails only Bob Hamelin, who hit a franchise-record 24 home runs during his AL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award-winning season in 1994.

Other noteworthy NL performances last week included utilityman Thomas Saggese (.526, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 3 2B, 4 BB, 9 R, 2 SB, 1.158 SLG, .560 OBP) and All-Star catcher Iván Herrera (.393, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 7 R, .643 SLG, .433 OBP) of the St. Louis Cardinals; outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. (.440, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 2 2B, 5 R, 1 SB, .880 SLG, .423 OBP) of the Atlanta Braves; rookie infielder TJ Rumfield (.500, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 2B, 1 3B, 4 BB, 6 R, .955 SLG, .577 OBP) and outfielder Jake McCarthy (.346, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 1 3B, 4 BB, 5 R, 4 SB, .615 SLG, .433 OBP) of the Colorado Rockies; starting pitcher Michael King (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 8 H, 6 BB, 9 SO) of the San Diego Padres; infielder Javier Sanoja (.429, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 2B, 1 BB, 6 R, .679 SLG, .448 OBP) of the Miami Marlins; shortstop Mookie Betts (.360, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 3 2B, 4 BB, 6 R, .720 SLG, .448 OBP) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; third baseman Alex Bregman (.346, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 1 2B, 3 BB, 7 R, .846 SLG, .433 OBP) of the Chicago Cubs; relief pitcher Mason Montgomery (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 4 G, 3 SV, 4.0 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 SO) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; and starting pitcher Aaron Nola (1-0, 1.50 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 9 H, 3 BB, 9 SO) of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Other noteworthy AL performances last week included starting pitcher Gavin Williams (1-0, 1.38 ERA, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 6 H, 4 BB, 24 SO) of the Cleveland Guardians; starting pitcher Bryan Woo (2-0, 0.64 ERA, 2 GS, 14.0 IP, 6 H, 3 BB, 16 SO), All-Star outfielder Randy Arozarena (.357, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 2 2B, 3 BB, 7 R, 1 SB, .643 SLG, .455 OBP), and shortstop J.P. Crawford (.526, 3 RBI, 1 2B, 9 BB, 3 R, .579 SLG, .667 OBP) of the Seattle Mariners; catcher Ryan Jeffers (.261, 4 HR, 11 RBI, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 BB, 5 R, .913 SLG, .320 OBP) of the Minnesota Twins; rookie starting pitcher Walbert Ureña (1-1, 1.20 ERA, 2 GS, 15.0 IP, 8 H, 1 BB, 12 SO) of the Los Angeles Angels; and starting pitcher Cal Quantrill (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 7.0 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 5 SO) of the Texas Rangers.

Play of the Week

Game-Ending Home Run Robbery by Colton Cowser of the Baltimore Orioles

August 31^st at Coors Field – Watch It Here

Baltimore Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser earned his first career Play of the Week Award, marking the 16^th award for the Orioles, the most of any club since the inception of the award in 2019. The Orioles’ 16 awards include a Major League-record eight honors from Cedric Mullins (8x: 9/20/2021, 5/8/2023, 7/10/2023, 8/14/2023, 9/18/2023, 4/8/2024, 4/22/2024 & 8/4/2025), joined by honors from Anthony Santander (6/8/2019); Austin Hays (2x: 9/23/2019 & 8/7/2023); Stevie Wilkerson (9/30/2019); Gunnar Henderson (2x: 7/24/2023 & 9/5/2023); and Brandon Young (7/20/2026). With a 2-1 lead and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Jake McCarthy stepped to the plate with the tying run on second base, clubbing a fly ball to deep center field that appeared to be heading out of the park for a walk-off home run before Cowser made a leaping catch at the wall for the final out of the contest. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Pete Crow-Armstrong’s leaping catch at the wall; Dane Myers’ home run robbery; Nico Hoerner’s run-saving diving catch; Cam Smith’s home run robbery; Carson Benge’s full-extension diving grab; Tommy Edman’s leaping catch at the wall; and Daulton Varsho’s leaping snag at the wall.