Fernando Tatis Jr. and Zach Neto Named Players of the Week

58 minutes ago

Right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres has been named the National League Player of the Week, and shortstop Zach Neto of the Los Angeles Angels has been selected the American League Player of the Week. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Tatis earned his fourth career award after previously winning on August 10, 2020; April 26, 2021; and most recently last season on April 21st. It marks the second honor for San Diego this season after his teammate Gavin Sheets won on May 18th. Neto garnered honors for the second time in his career after winning last season on August 18th. It is the second award for Los Angeles this season after José Soriano won the award on April 13th. It marks the first honor for an Angels position player since Jo Adell won last season on September 9th.

Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres (@tatis)

  • The 27-year-old hit .480 (12-for-25) with four homers, 11 RBI, two doubles, a walk, six runs scored, a stolen base, a 1.040 slugging percentage and a .481 on-base percentage in six games.
  • The San Pedro De Macoris, Dominican Republic native tied for the Major League lead in total bases (26); ranked second in homers, RBI and slugging; tied for second in hits; ranked third in batting average and OPS (1.521); and tied for third in extra-base hits (6).
  • The three-time All-Star registered a pair of multi-homer games as he launched two homers on Tuesday night at Citi Field and connected on a pair of jacks as part of a four-hit game on Sunday against Minnesota. On Tuesday he hit the first pitch of the game out of the yard, marking his 18th career leadoff homer, before robbing a grand slam off the bat of Francisco Lindor in the second inning and launching a two-run blast in the fifth. On Sunday, he connected on a pair of solo homers, going deep in the third and eighth innings.
  • The two-time Rawlings Gold Glover and two-time Platinum Glove Award winner now has 15 career multi-homer games, which are second-most in franchise history behind only his teammate Manny Machado, who has 25 multi-homer games with San Diego. Tatis’ 169 homers are also second-most in franchise history behind only Machado (218 HR). Additionally, his four-hit game on Sunday marked the 12th game of his career with at least four hits, matching Gene Richards for the sixth-most in franchise history.
  • The two-time Silver Slugger hit safely in each of his last five games to close out the week and tallied an RBI in all six contests. His six straight games with an RBI are tied for the longest streak of his career (also: August 3-9, 2020), and his five straight games with a hit and an RBI are tied for the second-longest stretch of his career. Overall, he has tallied multiple hits in five of his last seven contests.

Zach Neto, Los Angeles Angels (@zachneto2)

  • The 25-year-old hit .500 (14-for-28) with two homers, nine RBI, four doubles, a triple, five runs scored, two stolen bases, a .929 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage in six games.
  • The Miami, Florida native led the Majors in hits; tied for the Major League lead in batting average, total bases (26) and extra-base hits (7); tied for third in RBI and on-base percentage; and ranked fourth in slugging and OPS (1.429).
  • The 13th overall pick of the 2022 Draft posted career bests with five hits and seven RBI in an 18-3 rout of the Astros on Thursday, marking the 16th game in franchise history of at least seven RBI and first since Shohei Ohtani had eight RBI in June 2022. It marked just the fourth time in Baseball history that a shortstop had at least five hits and seven RBI in a game with Neto joining Didi Gregorius (5 H, 7 RBI on 7/23/2019); Brandon Crawford (5 H, 8 RBI on 7/15/2019); and Troy Tulowitzki (5 H, 7 RBI on 8/10/2009).
  • The Campbell University product tallied three extra-base hits on Saturday at Texas, hitting a pair of doubles and a triple. He became the first player in franchise history to record at least two doubles, a triple and a stolen base in a single game and the youngest player (25.203) to achieve the feat in the Majors since Javier Báez at 25 years, 201 days old on June 20, 2018.
  • Following his stolen base on Saturday, Neto is just two stolen bases shy of reaching the 20-homer, 20-steal mark for the third straight campaign, seeking to join his teammate Mike Trout (5x) and Don Baylor (3x) as the only Angels with at least three 20/20 seasons. He is aiming to become the eighth player all-time with at least three 20/20 seasons within the first four years of his career, following Julio Rodríguez, Bobby Witt Jr., Elly De La Cruz, Corbin Carroll, Grady Sizemore, Darryl Strawberry and Bobby Bonds. Rodríguez and Witt are the only players to achieve the feat in each of their first four seasons, and both are on track to become the first players to reach 20/20 in each of their first five career campaigns.

Other noteworthy NL performances last week included All-Star outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (.375, 5 HR, 8 RBI, 2 2B, 5 BB, 6 R, 2 SB, 1.083 SLG, .483 OBP) and third baseman Alex Bregman (.360, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 1 2B, 3 BB, 5 R, .760 SLG) of the Chicago Cubs; All-Star outfielder Jordan Walker (.353, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB, 9 R, 2 SB, .676 SLG) and starting pitcher Kyle Leahy (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 GS, 9.0 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 10 SO) of the St. Louis Cardinals; starting pitcher Cade Cavalli (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 11 SO) of the Washington Nationals; starting pitcher Blake Snell (2-0, 0.75 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 4 H, 6 BB, 11 SO) and relief pitcher Tanner Scott (2.70 ERA, 3 G, 3 SV, 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 2 SO) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; starting pitcher Nolan McLean (1-0, 0.75 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 7 H, 9 SO); outfielder Michael Harris II (.379, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 5 2B, 3 R, .655 SLG) of the Atlanta Braves; outfielder JJ Bleday (.286, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 2B, 1 3B, 4 R, .500 SLG), who hit for the cycle on Saturday, and All-Star rookie infielder Sal Stewart (.324, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 5 R) of the Cincinnati Reds; and rookie relief pitcher Alex McFarlane (3-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 G, 0 SV, 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 SO) of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Other noteworthy AL performances last week included outfielder Jo Adell (.450, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 1 2B, 3 R, .800 SLG) of the Cleveland Guardians; Texas Rangers starting pitchers Cal Quantrill (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 10 H, 0 BB, 11 SO) and Jacob deGrom (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 6.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 10 SO), who reached 2,000 career strikeouts; first baseman Pete Alonso (.345, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 3 R, .655 SLG) and outfielder Dylan Beavers (.286, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 1 2B, 1 BB, 3 R, 1.000 SLG) of the Baltimore Orioles; infielder Nick Sogard (.500, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 4 2B, 6 BB, 8 R, .955 SLG, .607 OBP) and catcher Mickey Gasper (.353, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB, 4 R, 1.000 SLG) of the Boston Red Sox; All-Star third baseman Miguel Vargas (.381, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 2B, 10 BB, 5 R, .619 SLG, .581 OBP) of the Chicago White Sox; All-Star designated hitter Yandy Díaz (.370, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 7 R, .593 SLG) of the Tampa Bay Rays; All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (.370, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1 2B, 5 BB, 8 R, 3 SB, .630 SLG, .485 OBP) and first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino (.385, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 4 2B, 3 BB, 6 R, .769 SLG) of the Kansas City Royals; and closer David Bednar (0.00 ERA, 3 G, 3 SV, 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 4 SO) of the New York Yankees.

Play of the Week

Grand Slam Robbery by Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres

August 18th at Citi Field – Watch It Here

San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. earned his fourth career Play of the Week Award after previously winning on July 12, 2021; September 25, 2023; and August 25, 2025. Along with his honor as NL Player of the Week, Tatis became the second player to win Player of the Week for his respective league and win Play of the Week, joining Juan Soto, who earned both awards on April 1, 2024. Additionally, Tatis is the fifth player to win the award at least four times since its inception in 2019, joining Cedric Mullins (8x); Byron Buxton (5x); Denzel Clarke (4x); and Sal Frelick (4x). Overall, it is the seventh award for San Diego, with Tatis’ four awards joined by a pair of honors to Manny Machado on April 12, 2019 and July 14, 2025, and an award to Jackson Merrill earlier this season on April 20th. With San Diego leading 1-0 in the second inning after a leadoff blast from Tatis on the first pitch of the game, Francisco Lindor stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and hit a ball to right field as Tatis ranged back and made a leaping catch over the wall to bring back the grand slam. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Jacob Young’s incredible wall-climb to start a double play; Carson Benge’s back-to-back outfield assists at home plate; Brandon Marsh’s catch in foul territory; Randy Arozarena’s home run robbery; and Ronald Acuña Jr.’s impressive throw for the outfield assist.