Cincinnati’s Spencer Steer named National League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet; Detroit’s Tarik Skubal named American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet

First baseman/outfielder Spencer Steer of the Cincinnati Reds has been selected the National League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet, and Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers has been named the American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Steer won his second career award after previously winning on April 8^th last season. It is the second award for the Reds this season after Will Benson took home the honor on May 19^th. Skubal earned the first honor of his career, marking the second honor for Detroit this season after Riley Greene was honored on May 5^th. Skubal is the first pitcher across the Majors to be honored since fellow starter Keider Montero won for Detroit on September 14^th last season.

Spencer Steer, Cincinnati Reds (@spenc_er22)

• The 27-year-old hit .522 (12-for-23) with three homers, seven RBI, a double, a walk, five runs scored, a stolen base, a .957 slugging percentage and a .520 on-base percentage in six games.
• The Long Beach, California native led the Majors in batting average, slugging, OPS (1.477), hits and total bases (22); and ranked third in on-base percentage.
• Steer launched three home runs on Friday against San Diego, connecting with solo home runs in the second and fourth innings and a two-run blast in the fifth. It was the eighth three-homer game across the Majors this season, as he became the 34^th Reds player (40^th occurrence) with three home runs in a single game and the first since Jesse Winker on June 6, 2021. He is the 10^th Red to accomplish the feat at Great American Ball Park, which opened in 2003, and his second longball of the night also marked his 150^th career extra-base hit.
• The third-round selection in the 2019 Draft notched four multi-hit contests, picking up three hits on Tuesday against the Yankees and Saturday against the Padres; and two hits on Monday against the Yankees and Sunday against the Padres. His 12 hits and seven RBI were the most in a six-game span in his career.
• The University of Oregon product has hit safely in each of his last eight games since June 21^st and in 10 of his last 11 contests since June 18^th, slashing .442/.444/.837/1.281 with four homers and 10 RBI during the stretch. His current hitting streak is tied for the fourth-longest of his career and is the longest since he hit a career-best 12 consecutive games earlier this year from May 11^th-24^th.

Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers (@tarikskubal)

• The 28-year-old went 2-0 with a 2.77 ERA (4 ER/13.0 IP), allowing seven hits with two walks, 21 strikeouts, a 0.69 WHIP, a .152 opponents’ batting average and 14.54 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
• The Hayward, California native led the Majors in strikeouts; tied for the Major League lead in wins; and tied for third in innings pitched.
• The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner matched a career high with 13 strikeouts on Sunday Night Baseball against the Twins, allowing a hit with a walk in 7.0 scoreless innings. It marked his second start of the season with 13 strikeouts, joining his shutout on May 25^th against Cleveland.
• The 2024 All-Star and AL Pitching Triple Crown winner is the first Tigers starter to make at least five starts in a calendar month and win each start since Jordan Zimmermann went 5-0 across five starts in March/April 2016. With the win on Sunday night, he has now won each of his last five starts, marking the first time in his career that he has accomplished the feat. He has not been tagged with a loss in each of his last 15 starts since April 8^th, marking the most starts without a loss by a Tigers starter since Max Scherzer set a franchise record with 19 consecutive starts without a loss from October 3, 2012-July 8, 2013.
• The ninth-round selection in the 2018 Draft allowed four runs on six hits with a walk and eight strikeouts in 6.0 innings of work on Tuesday against the Athletics. He has struck out at least six batters in each of his last 12 starts since April 27^th, becoming the fourth Tiger with at least six strikeouts in 12 consecutive starts, joining Justin Verlander (22 GS, 6/25/2011-4/21/2012); Scherzer (19 GS, 4/6-7/13, 2013); and Matthew Boyd (14 GS, 5/28-8/3/2019).

Other noteworthy NL performances for the week included shortstop Otto Lopez (.423, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 2 2B, 3 BB, 8 R, 1 SB, .500 OBP) and outfielder Kyle Stowers (.381, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 4 2B, 5 BB, 5 R, .857 SLG, .500 OBP) of the Miami Marlins; starting pitcher Sonny Gray (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 9.0 IP, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 1 H, 0 BB, 11 SO) and starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore (2-0 1.38 ERA, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 9 H, 6 BB, 10 SO) of the St. Louis Cardinals; second baseman Brice Turang (.458, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 1 BB, 4 R, 1 SB) of the Milwaukee Brewers; starting pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach (2-0, 1.93 ERA, 2 GS, 14.0 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 16 SO) of the Atlanta Braves; starting pitcher Ranger Suárez (1-1, 1.23 ERA, 2 GS, 14.2 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 15 SO) of the Philadelphia Phillies; third baseman Max Muncy (.400, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 7 R, .750 SLG) and relief pitcher Justin Wrobleski (2-0, 1.64 ERA, 2 G, 11.0 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 13 SO) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; second baseman Nico Hoerner (.400, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 5 R, 1 SB, .760 SLG) of the Chicago Cubs; left fielder Tommy Pham (.438, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 1 BB, 4 R, .813 SLG) and right fielder Bryan Reynolds (.370, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 5 2B, 7 R, .778 SLG) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; left fielder James Wood (.333, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 8 BB, 5 R, 2 SB, .500 OBP) of the Washington Nationals; and shortstop Elly De La Cruz (.458, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 1 3B, 2 BB, 6 R, 1 SB, .500 OBP) of the Cincinnati Reds.

Other noteworthy AL performances last week included second baseman Brandon Lowe (.444, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 2 BB, 6 R, .944 SLG, .500 OBP) and right fielder Josh Lowe (.526, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 2B, 1 SB, .789 SLG, .526 OBP) of the Tampa Bay Rays; starting pitcher Framber Valdez (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 9 H, 6 BB, 9 SO), relief pitcher Josh Hader (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 4 G, 4 SV, 3.1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 4 SO), relief pitcher Bryan Abreu (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 G, 4.1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 9 SO) and right fielder Cam Smith (.400, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB, 3 R, 1 SB) of the Houston Astros; outfielder Cody Bellinger (.476, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 2B, 1 BB, 3 R,1 SB, .762 SLG, .500 OBP) and third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. (.240, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 1 3B, 5 R) of the New York Yankees; designated hitter/outfielder George Springer (.450, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 2 BB, 5 R, 2 SB, .500 OBP) of the Toronto Blue Jays; Skubal’s teammate, designated hitter/outfielder Kerry Carpenter (.462, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 1 3B, 3 R, 1.308 SLG); center fielder Jo Adell (.471, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 BB, 6 R) and starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 12 SO) of the Los Angeles Angels; designated hitter/catcher Gary Sánchez (.364, 2 HR, 1 2B, 2 BB, 6 R) of the Baltimore Orioles; and shortstop Corey Seager (.333, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 6 BB, 6 R, 1 SB, .833 SLG, .500 OBP) of the Texas Rangers.

ELECTRIC PLAY OF THE WEEK PRESENTED BY CHEVROLET
Bare-Handed Game-Ending Play by Nolan Arenado of the Cardinals
June 24th at Busch Stadium – Watch It Here

Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado claimed his second career award after previously winning on August 22, 2022, marking the fifth honor for the Cardinals and the first since Jordan Walker won on July 17, 2023. The victory for Arenado breaks the record streak by Denzel Clarke of the A’s who’d won for four weeks in a row. Other Cardinals to win the Award include Kolten Wong (6/23/2019) and Tommy Edman (9/7/2021). With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of an 8-7 game and the tying run at third base, Dansby Swanson of the Cubs hit a high chopper to third base as Arenado charged and made a barehanded play while avoiding a runner before firing to first for the final out of the contest. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Miles Mastrobuoni’s long run and game-saving catch; Michael Harris II’s home run robbery; Andrés Giménez's diving stop; Jake McCarthy’s home run robbery; Taylor Walls' diving stop to start the game-ending double play; Jeff McNeil’s home run robbery; Ceddanne Rafaela’s full-extension diving catch; and Alec Burleson’s catch in the netting.