Gilbert, Machado earn Player of the Week honors

July 10th, 2023

Mariners right-hander  and Padres third baseman were named MLB's Players of the Week on Monday, as the league announced its final weekly award winners of the first half of the season.

Orioles center fielder earned MLB Play of the Week honors for his home run robbery of Byron Buxton on Friday.

Gilbert was named the American League Player of the Week after defeating a pair of contenders in the Giants and Astros to help the Mariners close out the first half in strong fashion. He pitched a seven-strikeout shutout against San Francisco on the Fourth of July and threw seven innings of three-hit, one-run, six-strikeout ball to beat Houston in Seattle's final game before the All-Star break on Sunday.

It's the first career Player of the Week Award for Gilbert, who is in his third big league season.

Machado posted a .478 batting average, 1.044 slugging percentage and 1.599 OPS for the week, with four home runs and 13 RBIs for San Diego. During that stretch, he tied for the MLB lead in home runs and led the Majors in RBIs, while ranking third in batting average and slugging and second in OPS.

This is Machado's eighth career Player of the Week Award and fourth National League Player of the Week nod with the Padres. He most recently won for the week of Aug. 13, 2022.

Mullins' robbery was named the Play of the Week after he leaped high above the center-field wall in Minnesota to take a homer away from his counterpart Buxton -- an elite center fielder himself who has made his fair share of highlight-reel plays.

Mullins' catch kept the game scoreless in the fourth inning, and the Orioles eventually won, 3-1, in extra innings.