Kevin Kiermaier of the Blue Jays Wins Play of the Week with Leaping Catch at the Wall

St. Louis Cardinals infielder/designated hitter Nolan Gorman has been selected the National League Player of the Wee**k presented by Chevrolet**, and New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge has been named the American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet.  The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Gorman, in his second Major League season, earned his first career weekly honor and the first by a Cardinals player since his former teammate Albert Pujols won last September.  Judge claimed his eighth career Player of the Week Award and becomes the third Yankees player this season, and second straight, to be honored (also: Gerrit Cole and last week’s winner Anthony Rizzo).  Judge’s eight career weekly honors rank first in Yankees history, ahead of Robinson Canó and Don Mattingly (six each).

Nolan Gorman, St. Louis Cardinals (@nolangorman)

• The 23-year-old hit .458 (11-for-24) with four homers, one double, 11 RBI, five runs scored, a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .519 on-base percentage in six games played last week.
• The Phoenix, Arizona native led the NL in RBI, ranked second in hitting, tied for second in home runs and slugging, placed third in on-base percentage and total baes (24), and tied for fourth in hits.
• The 19^th overall selection in the 2018 Draft, Gorman opened his award-winning week with a three-hit, five-RBI performance in St. Louis’ 18-1 victory over the visiting Milwaukee Brewers.
• Led another explosive offensive showing on Thursday in a 16-8 win over the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers, going 3-for-5 with two home runs and three RBI.
• Notched his third multi-hit performance of the week on Saturday, including a go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth inning to send the Cardinals to a 6-5 victory, and helping St. Louis to its fourth consecutive series victory. The homer marked his NL-best seventh go-ahead blast of the season.  Of his 13 homers on the campaign, six have come in either the eighth or ninth inning, marking the most across the Majors.

Aaron Judge, New York Yankees (@thejudge44)

• The reigning AL MVP hit .500 (11-for-22) with five homers, two doubles, 11 RBI, seven runs scored, a stolen base, a 1.273 slugging percentage and a .621 on-base percentage in six games played.
• The four-time All-Star paced the league in hitting, home runs, RBI, slugging, on-base and total bases (28), while tying for first in hits and walks (7), and tying for third in runs scored.
• The 31-year-old slugger, who hit safely in each of his games played, belted two homers on Monday at Toronto, leading New York to a 7-4 victory.  Judge went deep again on Tuesday, breaking a 3-3 tie in the eighth with a two-run blast.  The California native wrapped up the four-game set north of the border with his fourth homer of the series to help the Yankees take three of four.
• After blasting his fifth home run of the week in Friday’s series-opening win at Cincinnati, the three-time Silver Slugger Award winner registered a 4-for-4 perfomance with three RBI, including a go-ahead single in the 10^th inning, on Saturday to lead the Yankees to a 7-4 victory.  Judge’s eight game-winning RBI this season are the most in the Majors.
• Recorded the game-winning RBI in five of New York’s road victories last week, and according to STATS, became the only Major Leaguer in the last 50 years to record five game-winning RBI on the road in a span of six days-or-less.

Other noteworthy NL performances last week included infielder Jeimer Candelario (.571, 16 H, 4 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1.000 SLG), outfielder Lane Thomas (.379, 3 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI) and starting pitchers Josiah Gray (1-0, 1.50 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 7 SO) and Patrick Corbin (2-0, 3.00 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 4 SO) of the Washington Nationals; infielder/outfielder Christopher Morel (.360, 2 2B, 5 HR, 8 RBI, 10 R, 1.040 SLG) and outfielder Seiya Suzuki (.364, 1 2B, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 1 SB, .818 SLG) of the Chicago Cubs; starting pitcher Michael Wacha (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 15 SO) of the San Diego Padres; Gorman’s teammates Tommy Edman (.571, 3 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 3 SB) and Nolan Arenado (.407, 1 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 6 R) of the Cardinals; first baseman Freddie Freeman (.429, 4 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 1 SB)) of the Dodgers; first baseman Pete Alonso (4 HR, 10 RBI, 6 R) and second baseman Jeff McNeil (.440, 11 H, 3 RBI) of the New York Mets; closer Camilo Doval (1.69 ERA, 5 G, 4 SV, 5.1 IP, 8 SO) of the San Francisco Giants; outfielder Jorge Soler (3 HR, 7 RBI, 5 R) of the Miami Marlins; starting pitcher Merrill Kelly (2-0, 2.25 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 13 SO) and outfielder Corbin Carroll (.333, 1 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 SB) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; and infielder Owen Miller (.435, 3 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 SB, 3 R) of the Brewers.

Other noteworthy AL performances for the week included outfielder Cedric Mullins (.370, 4 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 1 SB, 4 R) of the Baltimore Orioles; the entire starting infield of the Texas Rangers: Marcus Semien (.407, 3 2B, 1 3B, 4 RBI, 8 R), Josh Jung (.353, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 4 R), Corey Seager (.438, 3 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 5 R, 1.000 SLG) and Nathaniel Lowe (.375, 3 2B, 3 RBI, 5 R); two-way star Shohei Ohtani (1 3B, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 5 R, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 14 SO) and closer Carlos Estévez (0.00 ERA, 3 G, 3 SV, 3.0 IP, 5 SO) of the Los Angeles Angels; starting pitcher Framber Valdez (1-0, 2.77 ERA, 2 GS, 1 SHO, 13.0 IP, 15 SO) of the Houston Astros; third baseman Jake Burger (.409, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2 R, .818 SLG) and starting pitcher Lance Lynn (2-0, 2.08 ERA, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 13 SO) of the Chicago White Sox; outfielder Esteury Ruiz (.385, 3 2B, 2 RBI, 3 R, 6 SB) of the Oakland Athletics; and outfielder Josh Lowe (.381, 2 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 4 R, 3 SB) of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Electric Play of the Week presented by Chevrolet

Leaping Catch at the Wall by Kevin Kiermaier of the Toronto Blue Jays

May 21^st at Rogers Centre – Watch It Here

Center fielder Kevin Kiermaier of the Toronto Blue Jays earned his second Play of the Week Award of the season, becoming the first player to accomplish the feat this season.  The Blue Jays have now won seven Play of the Week Awards since its inception in 2019, matching the Brewers for the most in that span.  In the top of the fourth inning of a 2-1 game against the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Sunday, Kiermaier raced to the wall and made a terrific leaping grab to take away an extra-base hit from Gunnar Henderson.  Additional Play of the Week candidates included Cody Bellinger’s spectacular catch at the fence; Chas McCormick’s incredible leaping catch at the wall; Jeremy Peña’s diving grab turned into double play; Hunter Renfroe’s great throw from right field for the out at second; James Outman’s impressive jumping grab at the wall; Josh Jung’s barehanded play at third; and Jose Siri’s terrific catch in center field.