Aaron Judge, Paul Goldschmidt named Players of the Week presented by Chevrolet
All-Star outfielder Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees has been chosen the American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet, and All-Star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt of the St. Louis Cardinals has been named the National League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.
Judge earned his fifth career Player of the Week Award, most recently winning in May 2021, and is the Yankees’ second recipient of the 2022 campaign, following his teammate Matt Carpenter’s win last week. This represents consecutive Yankee weekly awards for the first time since Judge and Corey Kluber received back-to-back honors in May 2021. Goldschmidt similarly claimed his fifth career Player of the Week Award and his second of the 2022 season, previously winning for the period ending June 19th. This marks the Cardinals’ third weekly award this season, including Nolan Arenado’s honor for the week ending April 10th.
Aaron Judge, New York Yankees (@thejudge44)
- MLB’s leading vote-getter for the 2022 Midsummer Classic posted a slash line of .474/.565/1.211 with six runs scored, nine hits, two doubles, four home runs and 11 RBI over five games played.
- Recorded his Major League-leading eighth multi-homer game of the season on Friday at Baltimore, which matched teammate Gleyber Torres (2019), Alex Rodriguez (2007), and Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle (1961) and Babe Ruth (1927) for the most in a single season in Club history.
- The 2017 AL Rookie of the Year delivered his fifth career four-hit game on Saturday, collecting a pair of doubles, two RBI and his ninth stolen base of the season. His nine stolen bases match his career best (also 2019).
- The California native clubbed his Major League-leading 37th round-tripper of the season yesterday at Camden Yards. Became the fourth player in MLB history to amass at least 37 homers and nine stolen bases across 94 games of a season, joining Hall of Famers Ken Griffey Jr. (1998), Reggie Jackson (1969) and Ruth (1921).
Paul Goldschmidt, St. Louis Cardinals
- The four-time Gold Glove Award winner batted .462 (6-for-13) with four runs scored, four home runs, seven RBI and a 1.385 slugging percentage across three games.
- Goldschmidt, who homered in last week’s All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium, collected his 1,000th career RBI in Saturday’s contest at Cincinnati, becoming the 10th active player in the Majors to reach the milestone. He also clubbed his 300th career home run on July 16th at Busch Stadium.
- The four-time Silver Slugger Award winner enters play today having logged at least one home run, and multiple hits and RBI in each of his last four games dating back to July 16th, which is tied for the second-longest such streak in franchise history. Only Hall of Famer Jim Bottomley posted a longer streak with five such games in 1929.
- Goldy’s .417 on-base percentage currently paces the Majors, while his batting average (.335) and slugging percentage (.619) lead all NL hitters. He became the first Cardinal since Albert Pujols during his MVP Award-winning 2008 campaign to have at least 115 hits (118) and an OPS of 1.000-or-better (1.036) through 93 games of a season.
Other noteworthy AL performances for the week included outfielder Raimel Tapia (.500, 3 R, 6 H, 10 RBI) of the Toronto Blue Jays; outfielder Adolis García (.471, 4 R, 8 H, 7 RBI) of the Texas Rangers; outfielder Steven Kwan (.474, 6 R, 9 H, 4 RBI) of the Cleveland Guardians; All-Stars Jose Altuve (.318, 5 R, 7 H, 2 HR) and Justin Verlander (1-0, 1.29 ERA, 7.0 IP, 9 SO) of the Houston Astros; and Aaron’s All-Star teammate Nestor Cortes (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 7 SO, 0 BB).
Other noteworthy NL performances last week included outfielder Hunter Renfroe (.500, 4 R, 3 HR, 7 RBI) of the Milwaukee Brewers; outfielder Nelson Velázquez (.667, 5 R, 3 HR, 7 RBI) of the Chicago Cubs; All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso (.600, 6 H, 3 XBH, 4 RBI) of the New York Mets; starting pitcher Zac Gallen (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 7 SO, 0 BB) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; and All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman (.429, 5 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI) of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Electric Play of the Week presented by Chevrolet
Around the Back Flip by Andrés Giménez of the Cleveland Guardians
July 19th at Dodger Stadium – Watch It Here
All-Star infielder Andrés Giménez of the Cleveland Guardians earned his first career Play of the Week Award and is Cleveland’s second winner this season, following his teammate Steven Kwan earlier this season. In the bottom of the first inning of the 92nd All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium, Giménez fielded a ground ball hit up the middle and flipped it behind his back to Tim Anderson, who fired over to first to complete the double play. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Josh Smith’s diving catch in foul territory in Oakland; Riley Greene’s diving grab on a shallow fly ball in center field; Akil Baddoo’s home run-robbing catch at Comerica Park; and Jeremy Peña’s clutch leaping catch with the bases loaded in a tight game in Seattle.