Cole, Happ named final '19 Players of the Week

September 30th, 2019

The final W.B. Mason Players of the Week for the 2019 regular season are in the American League and in the National League.

MLB made the announcement Monday.

Cole was named AL Player of the Week after closing out the season with two dominant starts for the Astros. The right-hander threw seven shutout innings with 14 strikeouts on Tuesday, then held the Angels to one run in five innings with 10 strikeouts in Sunday's regular-season finale.

Cole ended the year on a run of nine straight starts with double-digit strikeouts, setting a Major League record. A Cy Young Award favorite along with rotation-mate Justin Verlander, Cole finished 2019 as the MLB strikeouts leader with 326 -- the most by any pitcher since Randy Johnson in 2002 (334) -- and the AL ERA leader at 2.50.

Happ was named NL Player of the Week after posting an MLB-best 1.636 OPS in six games for the Cubs. His slash line for the week was .455/.500/1.136, and he hit four home runs and drove in 10 runs.

Happ's batting average and RBI total led the NL for the week, and his slugging percentage led the Majors.

This is Cole's first career Player of the Week Award. He's the second Astros player (and pitcher) to win AL Player of the Week this month, after Verlander won for the week of Sept. 1.

Happ is also a first-time Player of the Week honoree and the Cubs' second winner in September, after Kris Bryant won the NL hardware for the week of Sept. 15.