Sean Murphy of the Atlanta Braves named National League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet; Masataka Yoshida of the Boston Red Sox named American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet

Atlanta Braves catcher Sean Murphy has been selected the National League Player of the Wee**k presented by Chevrolet, and Boston Red Sox outfielder **Masataka Yoshida has been named the American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Murphy, in his first season with the Braves following an off-season trade from Oakland, earns his first career Player of the Week Award, and the first for a Braves player since his teammate Matt Olson for the final week of the 2022 season. Additionally, Murphy is the first Atlanta catcher to take home the weekly honor since Brian McCann in July 2013. Yoshida, in his first Major League season following seven seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, also claims his first career Player of the Week honor. Yoshida joins teammate Adam Duvall as Red Sox winners this season as Boston becomes the first team in the Majors with multiple winners in 2023.

Sean Murphy, Atlanta Braves

• The 28-year-old hit .360 (9-for-25) with one double, three home runs, 12 RBI, five walks, five runs scored, a .760 slugging percentage and a .515 on-base percentage.
• The Wright State University product led the Majors in RBI and ranked fourth in the NL in on-base percentage, tied for fifth in total bases (19), tied for sixth in hits, and placed seventh in slugging.
• The 2021 Gold Glove Award winner opened his award-winning week with a two-homer, six-RBI performance in Atlanta’s 9-8 victory during the first game of a doubleheader at Citi Field against the Mets. It marked his third career multi-homer outing, and the six RBI set a new single-game career-high while making him the fourth Atlanta-era catcher (fifth time) with at least six RBI in a contest.
• The third round pick in the 2016 Draft (by Oakland) recorded his fourth multi-hit contest of the week on Friday night in a loss against the visiting Baltimore Orioles, connecting on his ninth homer of the season while driving in all four of Atlanta’s runs.
• His 28 RBI were the most by a Braves player in the first 30 games with the club since Austin Riley had 32 in 2019.

Masataka Yoshida, Boston Red Sox (@bh_masataka34)

• The 29-year old rookie hit .480 (12-for-25) with two doubles, two homers, eight RBI, one walk, seven runs scored, an .800 slugging percentage and a .519 on-base percentage.
• The Fukui, Japan native tied for the AL lead in hits, tied for second in runs, ranked third in batting and RBI, fourth in total bases (20), tied for fifth in homers, was sixth in on-base and seventh in slugging.
• Yoshida, who was selected to the World Baseball Classic All-Tournament Team in March after playing a key part in Samurai Japan’s run to the title, hit safely in all six of his contests while recording multiple hits in five of his six games played, including a three-hit performance on Thursday against the visiting Toronto Blue Jays.
• The left-handed-hitting Yoshida helped Boston to seven consecutive victories dating back to last week, hitting safely and scoring a run in each of the victories with five extra-base hits.
• Yoshida, who met his idol Bryce Harper before their matchup this weekend (see more here), enters play today with a 16-game hitting streak dating back to April 20^th, batting .438 (28-for-64) with five doubles, five homers and 18 RBI during the stretch. The streak is the longest active streak in the Majors and the third-longest of the season to date. He is the sixth Japanese-born player in history to record a hitting streak of at least 15 games, joining Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, Nori Aoki, Shohei Ohtani and So Taguchi.

Other noteworthy NL performances last week included first baseman Christian Walker (.435, 1 2B, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 8 R, 1 BB, 1.000 SLG, .458 OBP) and outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (.571, 4 HR, 6 RBI, 9 R, 5 BB, 1.429 SLG, .684 OBP) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; Murphy’s teammates Ozzie Albies (.371, 5 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 4 R, 1 BB, .686 SLG, .389 OBP) and Bryce Elder (1-0, 0.73 ERA, 2 GS, 12.1 IP, 7 H, 4 BB, 10 SO) of the Braves; first baseman Paul Goldschmidt (.385, 4 2B, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 5 R, 1 BB, 1 SB, .885 SLG, .429 OBP) of the St. Louis Cardinals; infielder/outfielder Mookie Betts (.333, 1 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 5 R, 3 BB, .625 SLG, .407 OBP) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; and closer Camilo Doval (0.00 ERA, 4 G, 4 SV, 3.2 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 4 SO) of the San Francisco Giants.

Other noteworthy AL performances for the week included rookie starting pitcher Bryce Miller (1-0, 0.75 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 15 SO) of the Seattle Mariners, who shined in his first two career Major League starts, tossing 121 of his 166 pitches for strikes while holding opposing hitters to a .103 batting average; outfielder Anthony Santander (.444, 2 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 7 R, 1 BB, .852 SLG, .483 OBP) of the Orioles; outfielder Luis Robert Jr. (.526, 3 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 7 R, 5 BB, 1.000 SLG, .654 OBP) of the Chicago White Sox; outfielder Daulton Varsho (.393, 3 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 4 R, 2 BB, 2 SB, .82 SLG, .419 OBP) of the Toronto Blue Jays; and catcher Salvador Perez (.391, 4 HR, 6 RBI, 8 R, .913 SLG, .481 OBP) of the Kansas City Royals.

Electric Play of the Week presented by Chevrolet

Great Diving Grab by Cedric Mullins of the Baltimore Orioles

May 2^nd at Kauffman Stadium – Watch It Here

Center fielder Cedric Mullins of the Baltimore Orioles earned his second career Play of the Week Award and the fifth overall by an Orioles player since the honor was introduced in 2019. Mullins, who became the first Baltimore player to win since his last honor in September 2021, is the 14^th player overall to win the award multiple times. In the fifth inning against the Kansas City Royals last Tuesday, Mullins ran into deep right-center field before making an incredible diving grab to take away extra bases from Kyle Isbel. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Ji Hwan Bae’s outstanding diving stop and throw; Nick Senzel’s diving grab and throw across the diamond from one knee; Andrew Benintendi’s home run robbery against Carlos Correa; TJ Friedl’s home-run robbing catch over the right field wall; Miguel Rojas’ barehanded grab and throw to first to nab Trea Turner; and Kiké Hernández’s terrific diving stop and throw to first.