MLB Team of the Week: Gary Sanchez, Hanley Ramirez and Trea Turner Star
The marathon MLB season has been reduced to a sprint. For the clubs still in the hunt, every game matters—a lot.
For Bleacher Report's MLB Team of the Week, on the other hand, all that matters is the recent past.
Here are 10 players—one per position, including a pitcher and designated hitter—who've busted box scores over the past seven days.
To qualify, a player needs to have made at least two starts at the position in question, or one start in the case of pitchers.
And while this is primarily about individual output, we dole out bonus points for gaudy stats that led to ticks in the win column.
Limber up your commenting muscles, slap some pine tar off your proverbial helmet and proceed when ready.
Catcher: Gary Sanchez, New York Yankees
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Gary Sanchez likely arrived too late to win American League Rookie of the Year honors, but the New York Yankees backstop sure is giving voters cause to ponder.
Take this week, when Sanchez went 9-for-23 with five home runs and 13 RBI while leading all qualified hitters with a 1.587 OPS.
"You just watch him and he continues to come up with big hit after big hit," manager Joe Girardi said Wednesday after Sanchez homered twice in an 11-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, per Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. "It's hard to believe. I haven't seen anything like it."
Honorable Mention: Evan Gattis (HOU): 6-for-25, 4 HR, 5 RBI
First Base: Hanley Ramirez, Boston Red Sox
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Hanley Ramirez is heating up. Just don't call him hot.
"I'm not hot yet," he told reporters Thursday, per NESN. "I'm not hot yet. It's coming, it's coming."
Modesty and semantics aside, Ramirez had himself a week, going 11-for-23 with a double, four home runs and nine RBI.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, went a perfect 7-0 and opened up a 5.5-game lead in the AL East.
So, at the least, you can call them hot.
Honorable Mention: Freddie Freeman (ATL): 11-for-23, 3 2B, HR, 7 RBI
Second Base: DJ LeMahieu, Colorado Rockies
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It doesn't matter for Team of the Week purposes, but it's worth noting nonetheless: DJ LeMahieu is in line for the National League batting title.
Overall, the Colorado Rockies second baseman is hitting .352 entering play Friday, five points ahead of the Washington Nationals' Daniel Murphy.
Some of it can be chalked up to the Mile High effect. Since their inception in 1993, the Rockies have crowned nine batting champs, more than any other franchise. Indeed, LeMahieu is hitting 90 points higher at Coors Field than he is on the road.
However, all that counts here is that he banged out 12 hits in 26 at-bats this week, including four doubles and a home run with seven RBI.
Honorable Mention: Cesar Hernandez (PHI): 10-for-25, 2 3B, 6 BB
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Third Base: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
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The Tampa Bay Rays are going nowhere this season other than last place.
Just don't tell Evan Longoria that the party's over.
The three-time All-Star has set a career-high with 36 home runs, including three this week. He also collected a double and a triple among his nine hits and tallied four RBI.
"Just taking advantage of those pitches I should hit," Longoria said, per David Ginsburg of the Associated Press (via the Pantagraph). "I'd love to keep it going."
Honorable Mention: Todd Frazier (CWS): 9-for-23, 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI
Shortstop: Asdrubal Cabrera, New York Mets
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The New York Mets are locked in a tight three-way race for the NL's two wild-card slots with the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals. At the same time, the Mets' vaunted starting rotation has been decimated by injuries.
If the defending Senior Circuit champs are going to get back to the postseason, they'll need the bats to pick up the slack.
Asdrubal Cabrera apparently got the memo. The veteran shortstop went 9-for-25 this week with three homers, including a walk-off, three-run bomb in the bottom of the 11th inning Thursday night at Citi Field.
"As soon as I hit it, I knew it would be out," Cabrera said, per MLB.com's Andrew Simon.
That brand of confidence plays well come October.
Honorable Mention: Elvis Andrus (TEX): 7-for-17, 2 2B, HR, 2 SB
Left Field: Justin Upton, Detroit Tigers
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The Detroit Tigers are making their move in the AL wild-card chase, and Justin Upton is making his presence felt.
After mostly failing to live up to the six-year, $132.8 million deal he inked with Detroit over the winter, Upton has been swinging it of late.
This week, four of his six hits left the yard, and he tallied nine RBI with seven runs scored.
"He's had some big home runs throughout the month that he's gotten hot," manager Brad Ausmus said, per MLB.com's Jason Beck. "Probably as many big home runs [as anyone else] on the team, compacted into one month."
Honorable Mention: Matt Kemp (ATL): 10-for-26, 2 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI
Center Field: Trea Turner, Washington Nationals
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We know Trea Turner can run. The Washington Nationals' speedy young stud proved that from the moment he arrived in the big leagues.
This week, he flashed some pop, cracking a double, a triple and four home runs among his nine knocks, good for a 1.345 OPS.
Oh, and he stole three bases in three tries, because that's what he does.
Meanwhile, he's manning center field—a position he'd never played professionally prior to this season—and leading off.
"You pick out one guy, and no one is having the impact of this kid," said first base coach Davey Lopes, per USA Today's Bob Nightengale. "If this kid had been here all year, he might be right there in the MVP race himself."
Honorable Mention: Andrew McCutchen (PIT): 11-for-29, 4 2B, HR, 9 RBI
Right Field: Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox
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Mookie Betts collected his 200th hit this week and bolstered his candidacy for the AL MVP award.
Overall, he went 12-for-25 with a home run and five walks, good for a .480 average and 1.167 OPS. As mentioned, the Sox went 7-0.
Boston is emerging as the favorite in the crowded, noisy American League. And Betts, as ESPN.com's Scott Lauber opined, "is the team's most indispensable player."
Honorable Mention: Curtis Granderson (NYM): 7-for-24, 2B, 3 HR, 5 RBI
Designated Hitter: Carlos Santana, Cleveland Indians
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The Cleveland Indians are on track to win the AL Central after a 5-1 week.
They also have serious question marks, including an injury-depleted starting rotation.
We're treading out of Team of the Week depths, though, and short-changing Carlos Santana, who earned this spot by going 11-for-23 with three doubles, three home runs and nine RBI.
"We've all seen him be at his best late in the year," skipper Terry Francona said of Santana, per Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com. "We'll certainly need it."
Honorable Mention: Kendrys Morales (KC): 7-for-27, 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI
Pitcher: Jeff Samardzija, San Francisco Giants
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It's been an uneven year for Jeff Samardzija, which makes him the perfect pitcher for the Giants.
After posting the best record in baseball in the first half, San Francisco has sputtered since the All-Star break. Still, the club remains in line for a wild-card spot, thanks in no small part to the pitching of Samardzija.
The Shark hasn't always delivered in his first season in the orange and black. This week, though, he went 1-0 in two starts and allowed one earned run and nine hits in 13.2 innings with four walks and 13 strikeouts.
"Like I've always said, I'm going to throw my fastball in the zone and live and die by it," Samardzija said after blanking the San Diego Padres for seven frames on Thursday, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. "And if it's really going where you want it to, you're going to have a good day."
Honorable Mention: Ricky Nolasco (LAA): 2-0, 13 IP, 0 ER, 10 H, 3 BB, 12 SO
All statistics current as of Thursday and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
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