Starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi of the Minnesota Twins has been named the W.B. Mason American League Player of the Week, and Noah Syndergaard of the New York Mets has been named the W.B. Mason National League Player of the Week. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Odorizzi claimed his first career weekly award, the first for a Twins player since Eduardo Escobar for the week ending June 11, 2018, and the first by a Twins pitcher since Francisco Liriano for the week ending May 8, 2011. Syndergaard also claims his first career weekly award, and the first for a Mets player since Jacob deGrom for the week ending June 18, 2017. This marks the first time that the AL and NL Players of the Week are both pitchers since last April, when Patrick Corbin of the D-backs claimed the NL honor, while Sean Manaea of Oakland was a co-winner in the AL for the week ending April 22, 2018.

Jake Odorizzi, Minnesota Twins (@JakeOdorizzi)

• Went 2-0 in two starts last week without allowing a run over 13.0 innings pitched. Permitted six hits and five walks with 15 strikeouts across the two outings. Among AL leaders, finished the period first in wins; tied for first in ERA and strikeouts; and tied for second in innings pitched.
• The 29-year-old right-hander made his first start of the week last Monday against the Houston Astros at Target Field, outdueling Justin Verlander in Minnesota’s 1-0 win. Odorizzi hurled 7.0 scoreless frames, allowing four hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.
• Made his second start of the week on Saturday at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx as the Twins topped New York, 7-3, behind 6.0 scoreless innings from the Illinois native, who surrendered just two hits and four walks with eight strikeouts in the win. 
• Odorizzi lowered his ERA to 2.78 on the season in the victory, which marked his fourth consecutive start with a win. During that stretch, he has allowed just three earned runs in 24.1 innings for a 1.11 ERA. 
• His back-to-back scoreless starts were the first time the former first round Draft pick (2008 by Milwaukee) accomplished the feat since July 22-August 3, 2016, when he had a career-best three straight scoreless starts.

Noah Syndergaard, New York Mets (@nsyndergaard)

• Tossed a complete-game shutout in his lone start last week on Thursday against the Cincinnati Reds at Citi Field. The right-hander permitted just four hits and a walk with 10 strikeouts in the 1-0 win.
• The 26-year-old provided the lone run for the Mets with a solo home run in the third inning to become the first pitcher since Bob Welch for the Dodgers in June 1983 to homer and throw a shutout in a 1-0 win. According to Elias, he became just the 10th pitcher in Major League history to accomplish the feat. Additionally, he was the first to do so with double-digit strikeouts since Early Wynn of the White Sox had 14 on May 1, 1959 vs. Boston.
• The homer was the sixth of his career, matching Hall of Famer Tom Seaver for second place on the Mets all-time list for pitchers, one behind Dwight Gooden’s franchise mark of seven. The homer was also the fourth of the season for Mets starting pitchers, already tying the franchise mark for a single season. Syndergaard now has two homers on the season, tied with Arizona’s Zack Greinke for the most among Major League pitchers.
• From the third inning through the ninth inning, the 2016 NL All-Star retired 18 of the final 20 batters he faced.
• The 10 strikeouts were the most by a Mets pitcher in a complete-game shutout since R.A. Dickey on June 18, 2012 vs. Baltimore during his Cy Young Award-winning season. Additionally, the 10 strikeouts were the most by a Mets pitcher in a 1-0 complete-game shutout since Sid Fernandez had 10 strikeouts on September 20, 1992 against Montreal at Shea Stadium.

Other noteworthy AL performances last week included Boston Red Sox rookie infielder Michael Chavis (.407, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 1 2B, 1 SB, .500 OBP) and teammate Rafael Devers (.367, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 4 2B, 1 SB, 10 R); All-Star teammates Alex Bregman (.280, 5 HR, 10 RBI, .880 SLG) and Michael Brantley (.455, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 2B, .864 SLG) of the Astros; All-Star first baseman José Abreu (.357, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 2 2B, .750 SLG) of the Chicago White Sox; New York Yankees All-Star catcher Gary Sánchez (.412, 3 HR, 3 RBI, 1 2B, 1.000 SLG, .500 OBP); and Kansas City Royals teammates Adalberto Mondesi (.286, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 3 2B, 2 3B, 6 R, 3 SB) and Jorge Soler (.357, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 3 2B, 6 R).

Other noteworthy NL performances were Cincinnati’s Derek Dietrich (.412, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 4 R, 1.118 SLG); starting pitcher Mike Soroka (2-0, 0.69 ERA, 13.0 IP, 7 H, 3 BB, 14 SO) of the Atlanta Braves; All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado (.400, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 3 2B, .800 SLG) of the Colorado Rockies; Chicago Cubs teammates Anthony Rizzo (.389, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 1 2B, .944 SLG) and Willson Contreras (.500, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 2B, 1.000 SLG); All-Star outfielder Ryan Braun (.462, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 2B, 1 SB) of the Milwaukee 

PLAY OF THE WEEK

Acrobatic Catch by Kevin Pillar of the San Francisco Giants

May 4__th at CIN – Watch It Here

San Francisco Giants outfielder Kevin Pillar claimed last week’s Play of the Week honors. With the Reds leading 5-1 with two outs in the bottom of the third inning, Pillar scaled the centerfield wall to take away a potential home run from Reds rookie Nick Senzel, which would have been the first of his career. Additional Play of the Week candidates included New York Yankees outfielder Cameron Maybin, who robbed Minnesota’s Jonathan Schoop of a home run on Saturday afternoon; Francisco Lindor of the Cleveland Indians made a terrific diving stop and throw to get Seattle’s Edwin Encarnación at first base on Sunday afternoon; Whit Merrifield of the Royals made an impressive diving stop before flipping the ball with his glove to get the out at second against Detroit on Sunday; and Juan Lagares of the Mets made a difficult over the shoulder catch to take away an extra-base hit from Cincinnati’s Joey Votto in a tie game in the seventh inning of Monday night’s game.