Vinnie Pasquantino, Manny Machado named Players of the Week presented by Chevrolet

Rookie first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino of the Kansas City Royals has been chosen the American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet, and All-Star third baseman Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres has been named the National League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Pasquantino earned his first career Player of the Week Award and is Kansas City’s first winner since Andrew Benintendi in September 2021. Machado claimed his seventh career Player of the Week Award, most recently winning in August 2020, and is San Diego’s first recipient since his teammate Jake Cronenworth in June 2021.

Vinnie Pasquantino, Kansas City Royals (@pasquantino)

• The 24-year-old batted .455 (10-for-22) with six runs scored, a double, four home runs, six RBI and a 1.045 slugging percentage over six games played.
• The Virginia native recorded at least one hit in each of his six games, including three multi-hit efforts.
• An 11th round pick in 2019, the Old Dominion University product clubbed his seventh round-tripper of the season as part of a three-hit performance yesterday against the Dodgers. The 424-foot homer was the longest of his career.
• Since the calendar flipped to August, enters play today hitting .356 with 16 hits, eight extra-base hits, seven RBI, a .711 slugging percentage and a 1.099 OPS across 12 games of action.

Manny Machado, San Diego Padres (@machados13)

• Hit .429 (12-for-28) with seven runs scored, five doubles, two home runs, 10 RBI and a .821 slugging percentage across six games.
• The six-time All-Star enters play today having logged multiple hits and at least one RBI in each of his last five outings, tied for the second-longest such streak in franchise history. Derek Bell holds the Club record with a streak of six games in June 1994.
• Helped San Diego snap a five-game skid with a walk-off home run against San Francisco on Tuesday night.
• The 2020 Silver Slugger Award winner has tallied 16 RBI over his last 17 games dating back to July 29th, while registering 14 runs, 13 extra-base hits and a .300/.342/.629 slash line.
• The third overall selection in the 2010 MLB Draft is one of four Major Leaguers this season with at least 120 hits (122), 25 doubles (28), 20 home runs (21) and 70 RBI (70), also accomplished by fellow All-Stars Austin Riley, Paul Goldschmidt and C.J. Cron.

Other noteworthy AL performances for the week included All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker (.375, 6 R, 4 XBH, 9 RBI) and third baseman Alex Bregman (.474, 8 R, 3 HR, 8 RBI) of the Houston Astros; outfielder Mitch Haniger (.417, 4 R, 10 H, 3 RBI) of the Seattle Mariners; starting pitcher Shane Bieber (2-0, 1.29 ERA, 14 SO, 1 BB) of the Cleveland Guardians; outfielder Andrew Vaughn (.333, 8 H, 2 HR, 6 RBI) of the Chicago White Sox; and Pasquantino’s teammate Brady Singer (2-0, 0.68 ERA, 13.1 IP, 13 SO).

Other noteworthy NL performances last week included rookie first baseman Joey Meneses (.550, 6 R, 4 HR, 6 RBI) of the Washington Nationals; first baseman Christian Walker (.458, 11 H, 4 2B, 6 RBI) and starting pitcher Zac Gallen (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 14.0 IP, 14 SO) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; first baseman Max Muncy (.438, 5 R, 3 HR, 7 RBI) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 10 SO, 0 BB) of the New York Mets; and closer Camilo Doval (4 G, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 SV) of the San Francisco Giants.

Electric Play of the Week presented by Chevrolet
Diving catch and double play by Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins
August 13th at Angel Stadium – Watch It Here

Outfielder Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins earned his third career Play of the Week Award and his third of the 2022 season, previously doing so in May and July. The dynamic outfielder has joined Lorenzo Cain and Jonathan Davis as the lone Major Leaguers to receive three Play of the Week honors since the award was introduced in 2019. In the bottom of the 10th inning of a tied game with one out and runners on first and third, Buxton charged a shallow line drive to make a diving catch, and then threw to first base for a double play to end the inning. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Tyrone Taylor’s home run-robbing catch in Milwaukee; Albert Almora Jr.’s leaping catch at the wall to prevent a home run from Francisco Lindor; rookie Alek Thomas’ game-ending catch against the wall at Coors Field; and Matt Vierling’s catch and throw home to complete an inning-ending double play to force extra innings.