Alec Burleson Of The St. Louis Cardinals Named National League Player Of The Week; Byron Buxton Of The Minnesota Twins Named American League Player Of The Week
First baseman Alec Burleson of the St. Louis Cardinals has been selected the National League Player of the Week, and center fielder Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins has been named the American League Player of the Week. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.
Burleson won his first career award, marking the first honor for the Cardinals since Nolan Gorman won on May 22, 2023. Buxton earned his third career honor after previously winning on August 28, 2017 and June 13, 2022. It is the first award for Minnesota since Luke Keaschall won on August 11th of last season and the first award by a Twins outfielder since Buxton’s most recent award in 2022. Buxton is the sixth player to win at least three awards as a member of the Twins, joining Kent Hrbek (4x); Hall of Famer Joe Mauers (4x); Kirby Puckett (4x); and Rod Carew (3x); and Johan Santana (3x).
Alec Burleson, St. Louis Cardinals (@alec_burleson_9)
- The 27-year-old hit .407 (11-for-27) with two homers, 11 RBI, three doubles, four walks, eight runs scored, a .741 slugging percentage and a .484 on-base percentage in seven games.
- The Charlotte, North Carolina native tied for the Major League lead in RBI; tied for second in runs scored; and tied for third in hits and total bases (20).
- The 2025 Silver Slugger notched a hit and an RBI in six consecutive games, including three straight multi-RBI games on Tuesday-Thursday at Pittsburgh. He is the first Cardinal with an RBI in six consecutive games since Willson Contreras last season, and is seeking to become the first Cardinal with an RBI in seven straight games since Brendan Donovan in June 2024.
- The second-round selection in the 2020 Draft broke up Pittsburgh’s perfect game bid on Monday night with a two-out single in the seventh inning before St. Louis came back to earn a 4-2 win. He finished out the series with eight hits and eight RBI, becoming the first Cardinal with at least eight hits and eight RBI in a single series since Paul Goldschmidt had 10 hits and nine RBI in a four-game series against Pittsburgh in June of his NL MVP-winning 2022. Burleson was the first Cardinal to do so on the road since Tommy Edman had nine hits and nine RBI in a four-game set at PNC Park in August 2021.
- The East Carolina University product leads the Cardinals with 12 multi-hit games this season, matching Jordan Walker with three games of at least three hits.
Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins (@buckdaddy103)
- The 32-year-old hit .345 (10-for-29) with five homers, seven RBI, a double, three walks, nine runs scored, two stolen bases, an .897 slugging percentage and a .406 on-base percentage across seven contests.
- The Baxley, Georgia native led the Majors in home runs and total bases (26); tied for second in extra-base hits (6); ranked third in slugging; and eighth in OPS (1.303).
- The two-time All-Star homered in five of his seven games, going deep in three consecutive games to open Minnesota’s four-game set against Toronto. It marked the sixth time in Buxton’s career that he homered in three consecutive games and the first time since last June. His home run on Saturday marked the 21st leadoff homer of his career, surpassing Jacque Jones for the second-most in Twins’ franchise history (since 1961), now trailing only Brian Dozier (28 leadoff HR).
- The 2025 Silver Slugger, who was a member of Team USA in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, hit a home run and tallied a stolen base on Tuesday against Seattle, marking his 18th career game with a home run and a stolen base. His 18 games are second-most in Twins’ history, trailing only Torii Hunter, who had 19 career games as a member of the Twins in which he homered and stole a base.
- The second overall pick of the 2012 Draft hit safely in seven consecutive games from April 25th-May 2nd, matching the sixth-longest hitting streak of his career and longest since a seven-game streak last year. Buxton, who has appeared in 930 career games with Minnesota, reached 10 years of service time on April 5th. His 178 career homers are ninth-most in Twins’ franchise history (since 1961).
Other noteworthy NL performances last week included catcher Shea Langeliers (.500, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 4 2B, 2 BB, 5 R, .955 SLG, .542 OBP), second baseman Jeff McNeil (.444, 6 RBI, 3 2B, 2 BB, 1 R, .611 SLG, .476 OBP) and starting pitcher Aaron Civale (0.82 ERA, 2 GS, 11.0 IP, 12 H, 3 BB, 6 SO) of the Athletics; rookie outfielder Chase DeLauter (.591, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 3 2B, 4 BB, 3 R, .864 SLG, .654 OBP) of the Cleveland Guardians; starting pitcher Emerson Hancock (1.29 ERA, 1 GS, 7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 BB, 14 SO) of the Seattle Mariners; starting pitcher Ranger Suarez (0.00 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 13 SO) of the Boston Red Sox; third baseman Kazuma Okamoto (.259, 4 HR, 11 RBI, 3 BB, 6 R, .704 SLG, .333 OBP) of the Toronto Blue Jays; outfielder Aaron Judge (.429, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 5 BB, 8 R, .952 SLG, .556 OBP) and first baseman Ben Rice (.409, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 1 2B, 3 BB, 5 R, 1 SB, .864 SLG, .480 OBP) of the New York Yankees; rookie outfielder Brice Matthews (.375, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 4 R, 1 SB, .667 SLG, .407 OBP) and first baseman Christian Walker (.435, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 4 R, .609 SLG, .500 OBP) of the Houston Astros; starting pitcher Nick Martinez (0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 SO) of the Tampa Bay Rays; and relief pitcher Lucas Erceg (0.00 ERA, 3 G, 3 SV, 3.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 4 SO) of the Kansas City Royals.
Other noteworthy NL performances last week included Burleson's teammates, outfielder Jordan Walker (.393, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB, 6 R, 2 SB, .679 SLG, .419 OBP) and catcher Iván Herrera (.292, 1 RBI, 8 BB, 10 R, 1 SB, .417 SLG, .469 OBP) of the Cardinals; catcher William Contreras (.440, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 1 2B, 3 BB, 7 R, .600 SLG, .500 OBP), second baseman Brice Turang (.471, 2 RBI, 3 2B, 6 BB, 7 R, .647 SLG, .609 OBP) and starting pitcher Jacob Misiorowski (0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 5.1 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 8 SO) of the Milwaukee Brewers; rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin (.370, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 2B, 1 3B, 3 BB, 5 R, 1 SB, .630 SLG, .433 OBP) and infielder Nick Gonzales (.407, 4 RBI, 1 2B, 3 BB, 4 R, .444 SLG, .484 OBP) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; second baseman Ozzie Albies (.429, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 2B, 5 BB, 8 R, .857 SLG, .519 OBP) and first baseman Matt Olson (.318, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 3 2B, 4 BB, 7 R, .864 SLG, .407 OBP) of the Atlanta Braves; starting pitcher Jesús Luzardo (1.35 ERA, 2 GS, 13.1 IP, 10 H, 0 BB, 18 SO) of the Philadelphia Phillies; shortstop Otto Lopez (.444, 3 RBI, 3 2B, 4 R, 1 SB, .556 SLG, .444 OBP) of the Miami Marlins; outfielder Mickey Moniak (.368, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 5 R, .895 SLG, .455 OBP) of the Colorado Rockies; the NL Player of the Month for March/April, infielder Ildemaro Vargas (.435, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 R, .435 SLG, .480 OBP) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; shortstop CJ Abrams (.429, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 1 2B, 4 BB, 4 R, 1 SB, .619 SLG, .520 OBP) and starting pitcher Foster Griffin (0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 6.0 IP, 3 H, 4 BB, 3 SO) of the Washington Nationals; and starting pitcher Clay Holmes (0.71 ERA, 2 GS, 12.2 IP, 7 H, 4 BB, 12 SO) of the New York Mets.
PLAY OF THE WEEK
Game-Saving Leaping Catch by Nathan Church of the St. Louis Cardinals
April 29th at PNC Park – Watch It Here
St. Louis Cardinals rookie outfielder Nathan Church earned his first career Play of the Week Award, marking the sixth honor for St. Louis since the award’s inception in 2019. Other Cardinals to win the award include Nolan Arenado (2x: 6/30/2025 & 8/22/2022); Jordan Walker (7/17/2023); Tommy Edman (9/7/2021); and Kolten Wong (6/23/2019). With the Cardinals leading 5-4 with a runner at first base and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning at PNC Park, Nick Gonzales hit a ball towards left field as Church made a leaping catch at the wall to take away a potential walk-off home run. Additional Play of the Week candidates included James Wood’s home run robbery; Carson Benge’s diving catch; Braden Shewmake’s fantastic diving catch; Ezequiel Tovar’s run-saving stop and heads-up throw; Fernando Cruz’s sliding stop and acrobatic throw to third; and Elly De La Cruz’s long run and diving stop.