Josh Smith of the Rangers named American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet; Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Braves named National League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet

Infielder Josh Smith of the Texas Rangers has been selected the American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet, and right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves has been named the National League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Smith won his first career award and is the first Ranger to win the award since Marcus Semien on May 13^th last season. Acuña earned his fifth career honor after previously winning on August 20, 2018; April 14, 2019; April 19, 2021; and July 3, 2023. It is the first honor for Atlanta since Matt Olson won on September 11, 2023. Acuña’s five awards are tied for second-most in Braves’ history with Freddie Freeman and Dale Murphy, trailing only Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, who won six of his eight career awards with Atlanta.

Josh Smith, Texas Rangers (@joshsmith8)

• The 27-year-old hit .423 (11-for-26) with two homers, four RBI, three doubles, four walks, nine runs scored, a .769 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage.
• The Baton Rouge, Louisiana native led the AL in runs scored and total bases (20); tied for second in the Majors in extra-base hits (5); tied for third in hits; ranked sixth in OPS (1.269); tied for sixth in on-base percentage; and ranked ninth in slugging.
• The 2023 World Series Champion opened his week with five consecutive two-hit games, and along with his two hits on June 8^th, he became the first Ranger with six straight multi-hit games since Andy Ibáñez had seven consecutive multi-hit games from August 20-27, 2021. He is one of three players with multiple hits in at least six games this season, joining Cincinnati’s TJ Friedl (7 games, 5/23-5/30); and San Diego’s Jackson Merrill (6 games, 4/6-5/12).
• The 2024 Silver Slugger in the utility category tallied an RBI in his first four games of the week and had at least one extra-base hit in four straight games from Wednesday through Saturday. It was the second-longest RBI streak of his career trailing a five-game streak from July 5-12, 2022, and tied his longest extra-base hit streak after he also had an extra-base hit in four straight games last year from April 25^th-30^th. It marked the second time in his career that he had an RBI and an extra-base hit in three consecutive games, joining July 10-12, 2022.
• The second-round selection in the 2019 Draft (by NYY) out of LSU connected with his second career leadoff home run on Thursday at Minnesota. In Friday’s win over the Twins, he scored all three runs, marking the second time in club history that a player scored at least three times and accounted for all runs scored, joining Mark McLemore (3 R) on June 24, 1998 at Arizona.

Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta Braves (@ronaldacunajr13)

• The 27-year-old hit .619 (13-for-21) with three homers, six RBI, a double, five walks, eight runs scored, a stolen base, a 1.095 slugging percentage and a .692 on-base percentage.
• The Venezuela native led the Majors in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS (1.787) and hits; ranked second in total bases (23); and tied for third in runs scored.
• The four-time All-Star had three consecutive games with three hits on Tuesday and Wednesday at Milwaukee, and Friday against Colorado, becoming the first Brave with three straight contests of at least three hits since Michael Harris II from September 19^th-21^st last season. During the stretch, MLB’s first-ever 40/70 player went 9-for-13 (.692) and reached base safely in 10 of his 14 plate appearances (.714 OBP).
• The 2023 National League MVP hit safely in all six contests, marking his longest hitting streak since hitting in six straight games from April 12^th-17^th last season. Additionally, he has reached base safely in each of his last 12 games, with hits in 11 of the contests since June 3^rd, batting .442 (19-for-43) with four homers, seven RBI, nine walks, a .538 on-base percentage, and a 1.282 OPS during the stretch. He matched a career-best by reaching base safely at least three times in five consecutive games to begin the week, marking the longest streak in the Majors this season, and longest by a Brave since he also reached safely at least three times in five consecutive games from April 9-14, 2023.
• The 2018 National League Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year hit home runs on Monday and Wednesday at Milwaukee, and Saturday against Colorado. His seven homers since being activated from the Injured List on May 23^rd are tied for seventh-most in the Majors during that stretch. He became the third player in franchise history to make their season debut after May 1^st and hit as many as seven home runs within their first 20 games played, joining Jeff Francoeur (7 HR in 2005) and teammate Austin Riley (9 HR in 2019), who both did so in their first 20 career games. Since returning to Atlanta’s lineup, Acuña leads the Majors in on-base percentage (.478) and ranks second in OPS (1.179), trailing only Aaron Judge (1.225).

Other noteworthy AL performances for the week included shortstop J.P. Crawford (.455, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 1 2B, 6 BB, 2 R, 2 SB, .571 OBP) of the Seattle Mariners; Smith’s teammate, outfielder Evan Carter (.444, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 4 BB, 7 R, .889 SLG, .545 OBP); catcher Alejandro Kirk (.407, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 2B, 4 R) and infielder Ernie Clement (.423, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 3 2B, 5 R) of the Toronto Blue Jays; center fielder Byron Buxton (.467, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB, 2 R, 2 SB, .800 SLG, .556 OBP) and infielder/outfielder Willi Castro (.435, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 BB, 2 R) of the Minnesota Twins; left fielder/second baseman Jose Altuve (.429, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 4 2B, 2 BB, 4 R, 1 SB, .500 OBP) and shortstop Jeremy Peña (.417, 2 RBI, 3 2B, 1 BB, 7 R, 2 SB) of the Houston Astros; starting pitchers Yusei Kikuchi (1-1, 2.08 ERA, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 15 SO) and José Soriano (1.29 ERA, 1 GS, 7.0 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 12 SO) of the Los Angeles Angels; and infielder Jordan Westburg (.316, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 5 R, .842 SLG) of the Baltimore Orioles.

Other noteworthy NL performances last week included shortstop Elly De La Cruz (.462, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB, 8 R, 1 SB, 1.000 SLG, .500 OBP) of the Cincinnati Reds; first baseman Josh Naylor (.478, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 2 2B, 3 BB, 6 R, .826 SLG, .519 OBP) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; infielder Casey Schmitt (.350, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 3 BB, 4 R, .800 SLG) of the San Francisco Giants; rookie starting pitcher Quinn Priester (2-0, 1.50 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 11 H, 0 BB, 10 SO) of the Milwaukee Brewers; starting pitcher Zack Wheeler (1-0, 1.50 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 7 H, 1 BB, 16 SO) and third baseman Alec Bohm (.417, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 2 BB, 3 R) of the Philadelphia Phillies; right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (.476, 3 RBI, 3 2B, 5 BB, 9 R, 3 SB, .593 OBP) of the San Diego Padres; shortstop CJ Abrams (.400, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 2B, 1 BB, 6 R) of the Washington Nationals; Acuña’s teammate, starting pitcher Spencer Strider (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 13 SO); and starting pitcher Matthew Boyd (1-0, 1.50 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 9 H, 3 BB, 3 SO) of the Chicago Cubs.

ELECTRIC PLAY OF THE WEEK PRESENTED BY CHEVROLET
Incredible Home Run Robbery by Denzel Clarke of the Athletics
June 9th at Angel Stadium – Watch It Here

Athletics center fielder Denzel Clarke has set a record by earning his third career Play of the Week Award after also winning on June 2^nd for his home run robbery in Toronto and again last week for his run-saving catch at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento. Last week he joined Riley Greene (September 19 & 26, 2022) as the only players to win the award in back-to-back weeks. It is the ninth honor for the A’s since the inception of the award in 2019, and other A’s to win the award include Ramón Laureano (4/21/2019); Elvis Andrus (4/5/2021); Tony Kemp (2x: 5/24/2021 & 5/16/2022); Matt Chapman (8/16/2021); and Max Schuemann (5/13/2024). With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Nolan Schanuel hit a ball to deep center field for what appeared to be a home run before Clarke scaled the wall and reached over to make the amazing catch. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Byron Buxton’s diving catch in the alley; Alan Roden’s catch at the wall and hard collision; Elly De La Cruz’s nice stop to start the double play; Jake Fraley’s diving catch to take away extra bases; Francisco Lindor and Brett Baty’s run-saving play; Trea Turner’s sliding stop and long throw to first; Anthony Volpe’s backhand stop and jump throw to first; and Tyrone Taylor’s diving catch at the warning track.