Pete Alonso of the Baltimore Orioles named American League Player of the Week; Nolan Arenado of the Arizona Diamondbacks named National League Player of the Week

Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Braves Claims Play of the Week with Leaping Catch at the Wall

10:25 PM UTC

First baseman Pete Alonso of the Baltimore Orioles has been named the American League Player of the Week, and third baseman Nolan Arenado of the Arizona Diamondbacks has been selected the National League Player of the Week. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Alonso earned the honor for the seventh time in his career and second time this season after winning his first award in the AL with the Orioles on August 17th. He previously won five times during his tenure with the New York Mets, including June 24, 2019; September 26, 2022; July 30, 2023; April 15, 2024; and June 9, 2025. Alonso is the 12th player ever to garner honors in at least five consecutive seasons, regardless of team or league, joining Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero (8 seasons, 1998-2005); Manny Ramirez (7 seasons, 1997-2003); Arenado (6 seasons, 2014-2019); Aaron Judge (6 seasons, 2020-2025); George Bell (5 seasons, 1986-1990); Miguel Cabrera (5 seasons, 2012-2016); Hall of Famer Andre Dawson (5 seasons, 1987-1991); Carlos Delgado (5 seasons, 2000-2004); Clayton Kershaw (5 seasons, 2011-2015); Albert Pujols (5 seasons, 2005-2009); and Gary Sheffield (5 seasons, 1992-96). Arenado earned his ninth career award and first as a member of the Diamondbacks, marking Arizona’s fourth award of the year in addition to his teammates Ildemaro Vargas (April 27th); Ketel Marte (May 26th) and Corbin Carroll (August 17th). Arenado previously won six times as a member of the Colorado Rockies between 2014-2019 and twice as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2022, including August 24, 2014; June 28, 2015; April 18, 2016; July 24, 2017; June 25, 2018; May 27, 2019; April 11, 2022; and August 8, 2022. He is the 31st player with at least nine awards in his career and just the eighth with at least nine awards in the National League, joining Barry Bonds (15); Pujols (13); Hall of Famer Mike Piazza (12); Sammy Sosa (11); Freddie Freeman (10); Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn (10); and Sheffield (9).

Pete Alonso, Baltimore Orioles (@polarpete20)

  • The 31-year-old hit .389 (7-for-18) with five homers, eight RBI, three walks, eight runs scored, a 1.222 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage across five contests.
  • The Tampa, Florida native led the Majors in homers, slugging, OPS (1.722) and total bases (22); ranked second in runs scored; tied for third in RBI; and tied for fifth in on-base percentage.
  • The five-time All-Star opened his week with a two-homer game against the Blue Jays on Monday and hit a pair of longballs in the first game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Alonso now has 29 career multi-homer games which are third-most in the Majors since his debut in 2019 behind only Aaron Judge (40 G) and Kyle Schwarber (36 G).
  • The 2019 Jackie Robinson NL Rookie of the Year also slugged a home run in the first game of a doubleheader on Wednesday against Toronto as he finished his year with 43 homers and 113 RBI. Per Elias, he became the first player since RBI became official in 1920 to lead the AL and NL in RBI for a single season after he led the NL with 131 RBI in 2022. Additionally, he is the eighth Orioles player to lead the league in RBI and the first since Chris Davis had 138 RBI in 2013.
  • The 2025 Silver Slugger crossed the 40-homer threshold with his two-homer game on Monday, marking his fourth season of at least 40 home runs, joining 2019 (53 HR); 2022 (40 HR); and 2023 (46 HR). His 43 homers are third-most by a Baltimore player in their first season with the club, behind Hall of Famer Frank Robinson (49 HR in 1966) and Mark Trumbo (47 HR in 2016). Alonso, who has played in 577 consecutive games since June 18, 2023, became the first Oriole to start every game of a season since Jonathan Schoop in 2016.

Nolan Arenado, Arizona Diamondbacks (@nolanarenado)

  • The 35-year-old hit .435 (10-for-23) with three homers, eight RBI, two doubles, two walks, seven runs scored, a stolen base, a .913 slugging percentage and a .519 on-base percentage in six games.
  • The Newport Beach, California native tied for second in total bases (21) and hits; ranked third in on-base percentage and OPS (1.432); tied for third in slugging, RBI and runs scored; and tied for fifth in batting average.
  • The eight-time All-Star slugged a homer on Tuesday and Thursday at Colorado before also going deep on Friday at San Diego, marking his 30th homer of the year. It marked the eighth time in his career that he hit at least 30 homers, and his eight seasons of at least 30 home runs are third-most by a primary third baseman (min. 100 GS at 3B in season), behind only Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt (12 seasons of 30+ HR) and Eddie Mathews (10 seasons of 30+ HR).
  • The 10-time Rawlings Gold Glover and six-time Platinum Glove Award winner finished his season on a 13-game hitting streak that dates back to September 13th, and he hit safely in 18 of his final 20 games of the season. During the stretch, he slashed .420/.463/.840 with six homers, 16 RBI and a 1.303 OPS. Arenado’s hitting streak is the fourth-longest by a Diamondbacks player to end a season, trailing only Paul Goldschmidt (19 G in 2013); Chad Tracy (14 G in 2005); and Tony Womack (14 G in 1999).
  • The five-time Silver Slugger reached base safely in each of his last 21 games, matching Luis Gonzalez (2001) for the longest streak to end a season in franchise history. Overall, his 21-game on-base streak is the fifth-longest single season on-base streak of his career behind a 30-game streak in 2014, a 25-gamer in 2024 and a pair of 24-gamers in 2024 and 2018.

Other noteworthy NL performances last week included starting pitcher Jared Jones (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 GS, 11.0 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 14 SO) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; starting pitcher Eury Pérez (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 10.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 11 SO) of the Miami Marlins; infielder Bryson Stott (.474, 2 RBI, 6 2B, 5 BB, 4 R, .789 SLG, .583 OBP) of the Philadelphia Phillies; rookie outfielder Carson Benge (.440, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 2B, 3 BB, 5 R, .680 SLG, .500 OBP) of the New York Mets; second baseman Brice Turang (.360, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 3 2B, 1 BB, 5 R, .720 SLG) and outfielder Jackson Chourio (.471, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 3 BB, 7 R, 2 SB, .647 SLG, .550 OBP) of the Milwaukee Brewers; the 2026 Tony Gwynn NL Batting Champion, catcher Gabriel Moreno (.400, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 BB, 5 R, .600 SLG, .435 OBP) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; and utilityman Mauricio Dubón (.368, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 3 R, 1 SB, .526 SLG, .400 OBP) of the Atlanta Braves.

Other noteworthy AL performances last week included rookie outfielder Lucas Spence (.333, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 1 2B, 1 3B, 4 BB, 5 R, 1.167 SLG, .455 OBP), the 2026 AL Rod Carew Batting Champion, All-Star outfielder Yordan Alvarez (.375, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2 2B, 4 BB, 7 R, .708 SLG, .483 OBP) and first baseman Christian Walker (.348, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 1 2B, 3 BB, 7 R, .913 SLG, .407 OBP); utilityman Luke Keaschall (.381, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 2 2B, 1 3B, 3 BB, 10 R, 1 SB, .905 SLG, .462 OBP) of the Minnesota Twins; closer Cade Smith (0.00 ERA, 3 G, 2 SV, 2.2 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 4 SO) of the Cleveland Guardians; first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino (.333, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 2 2B, 1 BB, 6 R, .792 SLG, .385 OBP) and outfielder Jac Caglianone (.455, 4 RBI, 5 2B, 4 R, .682 SLG, .455 OBP) of the Kansas City Royals; outfielder Wade Meckler (.435, 2 RBI, 1 2B, 3 BB, 3 R, .565 SLG, .480 OBP) of the Los Angeles Angels; and All-Star first baseman Munetaka Murakami (.292, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB, 5 R, .750 SLG, .370 OBP) and second baseman Chase Meidroth (.615, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 1 BB, 3 R, 1.000 SLG, .643 OBP) of the Chicago White Sox.

PLAY OF THE WEEK
Leaping Catch at the Wall by Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves
September 26th at loanDepot park – Watch It Here

Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. earned his fourth career Play of the Week Award, after previously winning on August 19, 2019; August 8, 2022; and July 21, 2025. Overall, it is the 13th honor for the Braves since the inception of the award in 2019 with Acuña’s four awards joined by honors to Charlie Culberson (7/8/2019); Nick Markakis (7/15/2019); Adam Duvall (9/8/2020); Tyler Matzek (5/10/2021); a joint award to Ozzie Albies and Orlando Arcia (7/3/2023); Austin Riley (8/19/2024); Michael Harris II (9/3/2024); Jurickson Profar (8/11/2025); and Jim Jarvis (5/11/2026). With no outs and the Braves leading the Marlins 1-0 in the second inning, Heriberto Hernández hit a ball towards the wall as Acuña made a leaping catch to take away extra-bases. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Javier Sanoja’s fantastic play to keep the game alive; Henry Bolte’s diving catch; Bryan Reynolds’ diving catch and throw to second for a double play; Ceddanne Rafaela’s diving catch; and Jase Bowen’s leaping catch at the wall.