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The All-Star break is almost upon us. Over half of the Major League Baseball season has been played, and attention is swiftly turning to trade deadline talk. That hasn’t distracted us from our weekly awards, however.
We got box office performances from some unlikely sources this week. Featuring a breakout star and performing veteran, here are our awards…
Performance of the Week
The Washington Nationals desperately needed a good series against the Marlins. They’ve done just that. Mark Reynolds played a huge part in their success, crushing 10 RBI as part of a five-for-five effort on Saturday.
There were a pair of homers thrown in for good measure, of course, as the Nationals decimated Miami. Washington are still a genuine threat in the East, it’ll be interesting to see what they do at the deadline.
Start of the Week
Blake Snell is having quite a year. The lefty has an ERA a smidgen over two, and has played a big part in the Rays not being as terrible as everyone expected.
He continued his fine work this week. Pitching on Saturday against the Mets, Snell hurled 7.1 scoreless innings, striking out nine New York hitters in the process. Snell’s breakout year is massive for Tampa Bay going forward.
Defensive Play of the Week
The defensive play is perhaps the hardest to pick. Andrelton Simmons and Brandon Crawford have a good claim on it each week, but it tends to fall to some impressive outfield grab. Yep, that’s the case again here.
JaCoby Jones set off flying towards the left-centre field gap as Adrian Beltre hammered one towards the wall. It turned out it was going over the fence. Jones wasn’t having that.
Nightmare of the Week
It’s been a rough year for Jason Hammel. The veteran’s ERA is above six, and his WHIP climbed above 1.6 when he was thrashed around the park by the Red Sox this week.
Hammel survived just two innings, giving up three home runs and eight runs total. Not ideal.
