J.D. Martinez of the Los Angeles Dodgers named National League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet; Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees named American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet

September 25th, 2023

Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter J.D. Martinez has been selected the National L**eague Player of the Wee**k presented by Chevrolet, and outfielder Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees has been named the American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet.  The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Martinez won his 11th career selection, with his last coming as a member of the Boston Red Sox on October 6th of last year. His two previous NL honors came in back-to-back weeks on September 11th and 18th in 2017 as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Martinez is the fourth Dodger to take home weekly honors this season, joining Max Muncy (April 24th), Freddie Freeman (August 7th) and Mookie Betts (August 28th). Judge, who has the most weekly awards in Yankees history, earned his ninth career selection and second of the year after last winning on May 22nd. He is one of four Yankees to win the award this season, joining Gerrit Cole (April 17th), Anthony Rizzo (May 15th) and Domingo Germán (July 3rd).

J.D. Martinez, Los Angeles Dodgers (@jdmartinez28)

  • The 36-year-old hit .458 (11-for-24) with five home runs, 12 RBI, three doubles, three walks, six runs, a .500 on-base percentage and a 1.208 slugging percentage in seven games last week.
  • The Florida native led the Majors in RBI, slugging, OPS (1.708), extra-base hits (8) and total bases (29); tied for the Major League lead in homers; tied for second across Baseball in hits; ranked third among NL hitters in batting average; and tied for fifth among NL leaders in OBP.
  • The six-time All-Star recorded his 22nd career multi-homer game and drove home a season-high five runs on Monday against Detroit. It was his fourth multi-homer game of the year, his most multi-homer games in a single season since his five such games in 2019 with Boston. Martinez had a career-high six multi-homer games in 2017 with the D-backs and Detroit Tigers.
  • The 2018 World Series Champion had multiple hits in five of his seven games and reached safely in six of the seven contests. In addition to his five-RBI game on Monday, he also recorded three RBI on Thursday and Saturday against San Francisco.
  • Martinez reached safely in seven of his first eight plate appearances to begin the week. Overall he tallied nine base hits with an exit velocity of over 100 MPH, and his 724 hits over 100 MPH since the start of the Statcast Era in 2015 are tied for third-most in Baseball with Paul Goldschmidt, behind Manny Machado and José Abreu.

Aaron Judge, New York Yankees (@thejudge44)

  • The 31-year-old hit .529 (9-for-17) with three home runs, eight RBI, three doubles, four walks, four runs scored, a .619 on-base percentage and a 1.235 slugging percentage in five games.
  • The California native led AL hitters in total bases (21); tied for the AL lead in RBI and extra-base hits (6); tied for second in home runs; and tied for seventh in hits (9).
  • The 2022 AL MVP launched three home runs on Friday against Arizona, marking his second career three-homer game, less than a month since his previous on August 23rd against Washington. Judge became the only player in Yankees history with multiple three-homer games in a single season.
  • The 2017 AL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year finished his game on Friday tied for a career-high with four hits, marking his eighth career game with four hits. He racked up six RBI for the fourth time in his career and since he entered the league, only José Ramírez and Eduardo Escobar have had as many games with six-or-more RBI.
  • The five-time All-Star reached base at least twice in every game last week and reached at least three times on Friday and Sunday against Arizona. He completed his week reaching safely in nine of his last 11 plate appearances with seven hits and two walks.

Other noteworthy NL performances for the week included outfielder Nick Castellanos (.375, 5 HR, 11 RBI, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 BB, 6 R, 1.125 SLG), designated hitter/first baseman Bryce Harper (.320, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 5 BB, 7 R, .680 SLG) and starting pitcher Zack Wheeler (2-0, 2.77 ERA, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 11 SO) of the Philadelphia Phillies; rookie infielder Jared Triolo (.579, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 2B, 6 BB, 7 R, 1.000 SLG, .680 OBP) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 7.0 IP, 3 SO), who earned his 200th career win on Monday against Milwaukee; second baseman Ozzie Albies (.387, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 3 2B, 2 BB, 7 R, .677 SLG) of the Atlanta Braves; shortstop Xander Bogaerts (.407, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 2B, 2 3B, 2 BB, 8 R, .778 SLG), outfielder Juan Soto (.455, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 3 2B, 5 BB, 5 R, .727 SLG, .556 OBP), starting pitcher Blake Snell (0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 7.0 IP, 10 SO) and starting pitcher Michael Wacha (2-0, 3.00 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 12 SO) of the San Diego Padres; infielder Jon Berti (.500, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 1 2B, 3 BB, 4 R, 1.125 SLG, .579 OBP) of the Miami Marlins; All-Star teammates Corbin Carroll (.444, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 2B, 7 R, 3 SB, .722 SLG) and Zac Gallen (2-0, 3.27 ERA, 2 GS, 11.0 IP, 14 SO) of the Diamondbacks; and outfielder TJ Friedl (.429, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 1 2B, 6 BB, 4 R, .905 SLG, .556 OBP) of the Cincinnati Reds.

Other noteworthy AL performances last week included rookie outfielder Evan Carter (.368, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 BB, 6 R, 1.053 SLG), infielder Marcus Semien (.304, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 5 R, .739 SLG), starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery (1-0, 0.64 ERA, 2 GS, 14.0 IP, 14 SO) and relief pitcher José Leclerc (0.00 ERA, 3 G, 2 SV, 3.1 IP, 5 SO) of the Texas Rangers; first baseman Yandy Díaz (.524, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 3 2B, 4 BB, 5 R, .810 SLG) and outfielder Josh Lowe (.375, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 4 R, 2 SB, .625 SLG) of the Tampa Bay Rays; rookie outfielder Esteury Ruiz (.438, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 2B, 2 R, 6 SB, .688 SLG) of the Oakland Athletics; starting pitcher Mike Clevinger (2-0, 1.80 ERA, 2 GS, 15.0 IP, 7 SO) of the Chicago White Sox; catcher Adley Rutschman (.435, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 4R, .696 SLG) of the Baltimore Orioles; outfielder/infielder Willi Castro (.385, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 1 3B, 1 BB, 5 R, 1.000 SLG) of the Minnesota Twins; infielder Brandon Drury (.370, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 3 2B, 3 R, .704 SLG) of the Los Angeles Angels; infielder Andrés Giménez (.407, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 2B, 1 3B, 5 R, 2 SB, .630 SLG) of the Cleveland Guardians; and relief pitcher James McArthur (0.00 ERA, 4 G, 3 SV, 4.2 IP, 7 SO) of the Kansas City Royals.

Electric Play of the Week presented by Chevrolet

Home Run Robbery by Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres

September 24th at Petco Park – Watch It Here

San Diego Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. won his second career Play of the Week Award and is the first Padres player to win Play of the Week since his other award on July 12, 2021. This marks the third Play of the Week Award overall for the Padres since the award was introduced in 2019 with Manny Machado also winning on April 12, 2019. In the top of the sixth inning on Sunday, Michael Siani hit a ball to right field as Tatis Jr. leapt to the top of the wall and reached over to bring back a home run and preserve the shutout. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Nick Castellanos’ game-saving assist; Kyle Isbel’s run-saving diving snag; George Springer’s diving catch; James Outman’s bases-loaded grab; Cal Raleigh and Josh Rojas’ caught stealing, and Ji Hwan Bae's impressive double play.