Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros named American League Player of the Week; Otto Lopez of the Miami Marlins named National League Player of the Week

All-Star designated hitter/outfielder Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros has been selected the American League Player of the Week, and All-Star shortstop Otto Lopez of the Miami Marlins has been named the National League Player of the Week. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Alvarez earned his sixth career award and third of the season after previously winning on April 6^th and June 8^th. He was also given the honor twice in 2022 (June 6^th and September 19^th) and once in 2024 (August 12^th). Alvarez’s six career awards are tied with Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell for the most in franchise history, and he is the 99^th player to win at least six career honors. Lopez won the award for the first time in his career, marking the first honor for Miami since his teammate Kyle Stowers won last year on July 14^th. It marks the first time a Marlins infielder won the award since Adeiny Hechavarría garnered honors on April 26, 2015. It is the third time this season that a pair of internationally-born players have won the award in each league, joining Cuban-natives Yordan and Andy Pages on April 6^th; and Willson Contreras (Venezuela) and Ketel Marte (Dominican Republic) on May 26^th.

Yordan Alvarez, Houston Astros (@yordan4342)

• The 29-year-old hit .435 (10-for-23) with four homers, 11 RBI, two walks, four runs scored, a .957 slugging percentage and a .462 on-base percentage in six games.
• The Las Tunas, Cuba native tied for second in the Majors in homers and RBI; tied for fourth in batting average; tied for fifth in slugging; tied for sixth in total bases (22); and ranked eighth in OPS (1.419).
• The now four-time All-Star capped off a two-homer, six-RBI performance on Saturday with a two-run walk-off homer, becoming the first player in Baseball history with multiple walk-off home runs on Fourth of July (also: 2022). He launched a two-run homer in the first inning, followed by an RBI single in the fifth and a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning as Houston came back from a 7-2 deficit to win the game. With the victory, the Astros have now won each of their last nine Fourth of July games since 2016, tied for the third-longest winning streak all-time with the 1901-05 Pittsburgh Pirates, trailing only the 1934-41 Chicago White Sox (14 G) and 1916-23 Cleveland Indians (13 G), per Elias.
• The 2019 AL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year launched a grand slam on Tuesday, marking his Major League-leading third slam of the year. Additionally, it was the seventh grand slam of his career, matching his teammate Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Carlos Lee for the most in Astros’ history. After his two-homer game on Saturday, Alvarez is one home run shy of becoming the sixth player in franchise history with 200 career home runs, seeking to join Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell (449 HR), Lance Berkman (326 HR), Hall of Famer Craig Biggio (291 HR), Altuve (263 HR) and Jimmy Wynn (223 HR).
• Alvarez, who was named the starting designated hitter for the 2026 American League All-Stars on Saturday, registered a trifecta three-hit games during the week, collecting three hits on Tuesday and Wednesday against Minnesota as he broke out of an 0-for-16 slump. His 11 games with at least three hits are second-most in the Majors behind only Otto Lopez’s 12 three-hit contests and his 30 multi-hit games are tied with Freddie Freeman, Riley Greene and Josh Jung for fourth-most this season.

Otto Lopez, Miami Marlins (@o.lopez23)

• The 27-year-old hit .500 (14-for-28) with three homers, seven RBI, four doubles, a triple, a walk, seven runs scored, a stolen base, a 1.036 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage across six contests.
• The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic native paced the Majors in batting average, hits, extra-base hits and total bases (29); ranked fourth in slugging and OPS (1.536); and tied for sixth in on-base percentage.
• Lopez, a first-time All-Star in 2026, closed out his week with four straight multi-hit games, registering back-to-back games of three hits and three RBI on Saturday and Sunday against the Athletics. He is the second Marlins player with three hits and three RBI in consecutive contests this season, joining his teammate Javier Sanoja (June 29^th & 30^th) in accomplishing a feat achieved just 14 times in franchise history. Of the 14 instances, Lopez is the eighth player (ninth occurrence) to also homer in both games.
• MLB’s leader in batting average and hits became the fifth Marlins player (seventh occurrence) in franchise history with at least eight hits and six RBI in a three-game series. He is the first to achieve the feat since Jake Burger also had eight hits and six RBI in September 2023. Lopez is bidding to become the third player in franchise history to win the Tony Gwynn NL Batting Title, following Dee Strange-Gordon in 2015 and Luis Arraez in 2023.
• Lopez already has 123 hits this season, 11 shy of his career-best 134 hits last season. With his four consecutive multi-hit games to finish off the week, he now has 39 multi-hit games this season and 12 games of at least three hits. He is on pace for 218 hits, 69 multi-hit games and 21 three-hit games, nearing franchise-records in all three categories. Currently, Juan Pierre’s 221 hits in 2004 are the most in a single season in Marlins’ history, which also featured a franchise record 70 multi-hit games. Strange-Gordon set the franchise mark with 25 three-hit games in 2015.

Other noteworthy AL performances last week included All-Star outfielder Riley Greene (.400, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 5 R, 1 SB, 1.150 SLG, .435 OBP) and starting pitcher Casey Mize (1.32 ERA, 2 GS, 13.2 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 14 SO) of the Detroit Tigers; rookie infielder Joshua Kuroda-Grauer (.409, 1 RBI, 2 2B, 4 R, .500 SLG, .435 OBP) of the Athletics; designated hitter Josh Bell (.292, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 2 2B, 4 R, .875 SLG) and utilityman Kody Clemens (.269, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 1 2B, 1 BB, 7 R, .654 SLG) of the Minnesota Twins; first baseman Willson Contreras (.333, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 1 2B, 3 BB, 5 R, 1 SB, .810 SLG, .417 OBP) of the Boston Red Sox; shortstop Zach Neto (.348, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB, 4 R, .696 SLG, .400 OBP) of the Los Angeles Angels; shortstop Brayan Rocchio (.364, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 4 R, 2 SB, .500 SLG, .417 OBP) of the Cleveland Guardians; and starting pitcher Sean Burke (2.38 ERA, 2 GS, 11.1 IP, 11 H, 3 BB, 19 SO) of the Chicago White Sox.

Other noteworthy NL performances last week included shortstop Dansby Swanson (.409, 5 HR, 11 RBI, 1 2B, 8 R, 1.136 SLG, .409 OBP) and All-Star outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (.474, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 2B, 5 BB, 6 R, 3 SB, .842 SLG, .615 OBP) of the Chicago Cubs; outfielder Jake McCarthy (.323, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 1 BB, 6 R, 1 SB, .742 SLG), rookie outfielder Cole Carrigg (.350, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 2 3B, 1 BB, 7 R, .700 SLG), outfielder Mickey Moniak (.333, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB, 7 R, .815 SLG) and third baseman Kyle Karros (.375, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 2B, 1 3B, 4 BB, 8 R, 1 SB, .792 SLG, .483 OBP) of the Colorado Rockies; Lopez’s Marlins teammates, starting pitcher Eury Pérez (0.73 ERA, 2 GS, 12.1 IP, 2 H, 4 BB, 16 SO), outfielder/first baseman Kyle Stowers (.423, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 2 2B, 1 3B, 3 BB, 10 R, .923 SLG, .500 OBP), outfielder Heriberto Hernández (.389, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 3 2B, 5 BB, 5 R, 1.056 SLG, .522 OBP) and third baseman Javier Sanoja (.423, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 3 2B, 2 3B, 3 BB, 5 R, .808 SLG, .483 OBP); third baseman Nick Gonzales (.481, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 3 BB, 5 R, .667 SLG, .533 OBP) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; All-Star starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez (2.08 ERA, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 10 H, 0 BB, 4 SO) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; starting pitcher Nolan McLean (1.50 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 10 H, 3 BB, 12 SO) of the New York Mets; starting pitcher Nick Lodolo (0.82 ERA, 2 GS, 11.0 IP, 7 H, 6 BB, 8 SO) of the Cincinnati Reds; relief pitcher Trevor Megill (0.00 ERA, 4 G, 3 SV, 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 SO) of the Milwaukee Brewers; and first baseman Luis García Jr. (.318, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 4 R, 1 SB, .773 SLG) of the Washington Nationals.

PLAY OF THE WEEK
Off-Balance Throw to Complete a Double Play by Casey Schmitt of the San Francisco Giants
July 3rd at Coors Field – Watch It Here

San Francisco Giants infielder Casey Schmitt earned his first career Play of the Week Award, marking the fourth award for the Giants since the inception of the award in 2019. Schmitt’s honor follows awards to Kevin Pillar on May 4, 2019; a combined honor to Brandon Crawford and Tommy La Stella on September 13, 2021; and Matt Chapman on May 28, 2024. With the bases loaded and two runs already home in the frame for the Colorado Rockies, Tyler Freeman hit a bouncing ball to third base as Schmitt ranged over and made the play, stepping on third base for the first out of the inning before throwing off-balance to first base to complete the double play. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Noelvi Marte’s leaping catch in foul territory; Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s home run robbery; Joey Ortiz’s diving stop to take away extra-bases; Isaac Collins’ inning-ending outfield assist; and Riley Greene’s full-extension diving catch.