All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams of the Washington Nationals has been named the National League Player of the Week, and shortstop Jeremy Peña of the Houston Astros has been selected the American League Player of the Week. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.
Abrams earned his second career award after previously winning on July 17, 2023. It is Washington’s fourth honor of the season following a pair of awards to fellow All-Star teammate James Wood on April 13th and July 13th, and Luis García Jr. on June 29th. The Nationals’ four awards this season mark their most in a single season since earning five awards in 2018. Peña earned his first career honor, marking Houston’s fourth award of the season after Yordan Alvarez won on April 6th, June 8th and July 6th. He is the first Astros infielder to win the award since Alex Bregman on August 12, 2024.
CJ Abrams, Washington Nationals (@cj__abrams)
- The 25-year-old hit .577 (15-for-26) with six homers, 12 RBI, two doubles, a walk, eight runs scored, two stolen bases, a 1.346 slugging percentage and a .593 on-base percentage in six games.
- The Alpharetta, Georgia native led the Majors in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS (1.939), homers, RBI, hits, extra-base hits (8), total bases (35); and ranked second to only Peña in runs scored.
- The two-time All-Star registered a pair of multi-homer games as he hit two two-run blasts on Tuesday at Colorado and capped off his week with two home runs on Sunday against the Diamondbacks. With his solo homer in the third inning on Sunday, he surpassed Ian Desmond (25 HR in 2012) for the most home runs as a shortstop in a single season in Nationals/Expos history. Abrams also hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning for his 27th homer of the year and along with James Wood’s two-homer game, it marked the eighth time since 2005 that a pair of Nationals hit multiple home runs in a single game and the third time this season, joining Luis García Jr. and Daylen Lile, who did so on May 12th and July 3rd.
- The sixth overall pick of the 2019 Draft recorded five consecutive multi-hit games to close out his week, marking the second time in his career that he had multiple hits in five straight games, joining his award-winning week in July 2023. He racked up four hits on Wednesday at Colorado, marking his fifth career four-hit game and first since April 29th of last season. His 149 multi-hit games are the fifth-most by a player before their 26th birthday in Nationals’ history (2005-present), trailing only Bryce Harper (249); Ryan Zimmerman (228); García Jr. (171); and Juan Soto (150).
- Abrams has hit safely in 18 of his last 20 games since June 29th slashing .378/.400/.817 with 10 homers, 25 RBI and a 1.217 OPS. He leads the Nationals with 114 hits and ranks second in homers (27) and stolen bases (17). Entering play on Monday, Washington leads the Majors in home runs (156) and stolen bases (116) as the club bids to become the first team since the 1955 Dodgers to lead Baseball in homers and steals for a single season, per Sarah Langs.
Jeremy Peña, Houston Astros (@jpena221)
- The 28-year-old hit .500 (13-for-26) with five homers, eight RBI, 10 runs scored, a 1.077 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage across six contests.
- The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic native led the Majors in runs scored; ranked second to only Abrams in homers, slugging and total bases (28); tied for second in OPS (1.577) and hits; tied for third in batting average; and tied for fourth in RBI.
- The 2022 World Series Champion and Willie Mays World Series MVP homered in each of his first three games of the week, helping the Astros to a three-game sweep against the Marlins. It marked the first time in his career that he homered in three consecutive games and he became the first Astros shortstop to hit a home run in three straight games since Carlos Correa in August 2016.
- The 2025 All-Star closed his week with four consecutive multi-hit games, including a two-homer game on Sunday at Chicago (AL). The contest marked his fourth career multi-homer game and second of the season after connecting on a pair of longballs on June 19th. His four straight multi-hit games are tied for the longest streak in his career after also doing so from September 3-6, 2019; May 8-11, 2024; and June 10-13, 2025.
- The 2022 Rawlings Gold Glover has tallied a hit and a run scored in each of his last six games, matching the longest streak of his career after also doing so from April 24-30, 2023. Overall, he has hit safely in each of his last eight games since July 17th, tied for the seventh-longest hitting streak of his career. Since June 12th, Peña has hit safely in 23 of his 27 games, slashing .362/.404/.610 with eight homers, 18 RBI and a 1.014 OPS during the stretch.
Other noteworthy NL performances last week included All-Star starting pitcher Jacob Misiorowski (1.00 ERA, 2 GS, 9.0 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 18 SO) and rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt (.500, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 1 2B, 4 R, 2 SB, .889 SLG) of the Milwaukee Brewers; All-Star outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (.391, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 3 2B, 2 3B, 5 BB, 5 R, 1 SB, .957 SLG, .517 OBP) of the Chicago Cubs; first baseman Alec Burleson (.414, 2 RBI, 3 2B, 1 BB, 3 R, .517 SLG) of the St. Louis Cardinals; relief pitcher Emilio Pagán (0.00 ERA, 3 G, 3 SV, 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 SO) of the Cincinnati Reds; catcher Gabriel Moreno (.423, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 3 2B, 1 BB, 6 R, .654 SLG) and infielder Ildemaro Vargas (.455, 2 RBI, 1 2B, 3 BB, 5 R, .500 SLG, .520 OBP) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; Abrams’ teammate, outfielder Dylan Crews (.438, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 2B, 5 BB, 3 R, .688 SLG, .591 OBP); first baseman Ty France (.367, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2 2B, 3 R, .633 SLG), outfielder Jackson Merrill (.375, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 2 2B, 1 BB, 5 R, .833 SLG) and utilityman Luis Rengifo (.435, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 4 R, 1 SB, .739 SLG) of the San Diego Padres; and first baseman Rafael Devers (.333, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2 2B, 4 BB, 5 R, .714 SLG) of the San Francisco Giants.
Other noteworthy AL performances last week included one of the 2026 All-Star Game’s starting pitchers, Dylan Cease (1.80 ERA, 2 GS, 15.0 IP, 8 H, 4 BB, 19 SO), as well as designated hitter George Springer (.370, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 3 BB, 3 R, 1 SB) of the Toronto Blue Jays; rookie infielder Hao-Yu Lee (.409, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 2B, 2 BB, 6 R, .818 SLG) of the Detroit Tigers; catcher Nick Fortes (.611, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2 2B, 1 BB, 5 R, 1.056 SLG, .611 OBP) and a trio of All-Star pitchers Drew Rasmussen (1.50 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 8 H, 2 BB, 14 SO), Nick Martinez (0.75 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 10 H, 1 BB, 5 SO) and Bryan Baker (0.00 ERA, 4 G, 3 SV, 4.0 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 SO) of the Tampa Bay Rays; third baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand (.409, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 3 R, .864 SLG) of the Baltimore Orioles; Peña’s All-Star teammate, designated hitter Yordan Alvarez (.381, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 7 R, .810 SLG); catcher Patrick Bailey (.429, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 4 R, .857 SLG, .500 OBP) of the Cleveland Guardians; and All-Star outfielder Mike Trout (.421, 1 RBI, 1 2B, 4 BB, 2 R, .474 SLG, .520 OBP) of the Los Angeles Angels.
PLAY OF THE WEEK
Heads-Up Run-Saving Diving Play by Nico Hoerner of the Chicago Cubs
July 24th at PNC Park – Watch It Here
Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner earned his third career Play of the Week Award and third of the season after previously winning on April 27th and May 26th. He is the first infielder ever to win three awards in a single season, and one of three infielders to win multiple times in a single season, joining Luis Urías (2021) and Elly De La Cruz (2025). Overall, it marks the sixth honor for the Cubs since the inception of the award in 2019 with Hoerner’s three honors joining Albert Almora Jr. (7/27/2020); Javier Báez (5/31/2021); and Mike Tauchman (7/30/2023). With two outs in the bottom of the third inning against the Pirates, Nick Gonzales hit a single back up the middle as Hoerner made a great diving stop on the other side of second base in shallow center field. He quickly got to his feet and threw to third baseman Alex Bregman, applying a tag on Henry Davis after he made a wide turn at third base to end the inning and keep the game in a scoreless tie. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Ben Williamson’s diving stop and throw to first; the Marlins’ around-the-horn triple play; Ceddanne Rafaela’s diving catch to start a double play; Braden Montgomery’s home run robbery; and Carson Benge’s outfield assist to keep the game tied.