MLB Team of the Week: Hanley Ramirez, Jose Altuve and A.J. Pierzynski Star
It's time to turn the calendar on April and—drumroll, please—time to crown another Bleacher Report MLB Team of the Week.
Here are 10 players (one per position, including designated hitter but excluding relief pitchers) who lit up box scores between April 24 and April 30.
To qualify, a player needs at least two starts at the position in question or at least one start in the case of pitchers. And while this is mostly about individual output, we award an edge to guys whose big numbers translated to notches in the win column.
Catcher: A.J. Pierzynski, Atlanta Braves
1 of 10
2015 Stats: .422/.442/.689, 3 HR, 14 RBI
File this under things you didn't expect: Not only has A.J. Pierzynski taken over as the Atlanta Braves' primary catcher, but he's also hit safely in every game he's played.
Over the last week, the 38-year-old backstop has eight knocks in 18 at-bats with nine RBI, including a four-hit, four-RBI performance on April 28 against the Washington Nationals.
"He's been on fire since day one," Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said, per MLB.com's Mark Bowman. "He was hitting during spring training, and it's carried over into the season. He's filled right into the 4-hole, and he's kept it going."
First Base: Justin Morneau, Colorado Rockies
2 of 10
2015 Stats: .301/.338/.438, 2 HR, 7 RBI
The Colorado Rockies have been swinging it all season, as their National League-leading .280 team batting average attests. After a slow start, Justin Morneau got in on the action this week.
Morneau collected 10 hits in 21 at-bats, including his second home run of the season, a three-run blast that proved to be the difference in a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday.
The Rockies went 2-3 over that stretch but still sit above .500 and just two games back of the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.
Second Base: Jose Altuve, Houston Astros
3 of 10
2015 Stats: .367/.400/.500, 7 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 8 SB
Jose Altuve capped off his week with a 3-for-5 performance and a walk-off hit in the bottom of the 10th against the Seattle Mariners on Thursday.
Overall, the 2014 American League batting champ went 17-for-34 with eight RBI and four stolen bases. And his 'Stros now sit atop the AL West, four games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels.
Call them a flash in the pan if you want. But right now, like Altuve, they're burning plenty bright.
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Third Base: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
4 of 10
2015 Stats: .293/.393/.427, 7 2B, HR, 4 RBI
Evan Longoria did most of his damage in a three-game series April 24-26 against the Toronto Blue Jays, going 8-for-11 with two doubles and a pair of RBI en route to a Tampa Bay sweep.
Overall, the Rays third baseman collected 11 hits in 24 at-bats this week, raising his batting average nearly 80 points.
"The hits are great," Longoria said in the midst of the Toronto series, per Reuters, "but it's nice to finally see some results."
Shortstop: Jhonny Peralta, St. Louis Cardinals
5 of 10
2015 Stats: .316/.356/.468, 2 HR, 12 RBI
Jhonny Peralta wore out the Milwaukee Brewers in a three-game series April 24-26, going 7-for-11 with a double, a home run and two RBI as the first-place St. Louis Cardinals took two of three.
He's gone just 2-for-12 since, but that scalding stretch in Brew City earns him a raise of the glass.
Left Field: Hanley Ramirez, Boston Red Sox
6 of 10
2015 Stats: .293/.341/.659, 10 HR, 22 RBI
Here's an interesting stat: Hanley Ramirez has 10 extra-base hits this year, and they've all left the yard.
Half of that total came this week, as Ramirez went 9-for-25 with 10 RBI.
The Red Sox went just 3-3 over that stretch and are 12-10 on the season. But as NESN.com's Ricky Doyle points out, "Just imagine the heat Boston would be taking if both Ramirez and [fellow offseason acquisition Pablo] Sandoval weren't playing meaningful roles in helping the club overcome its pitching shortcomings."
Center Field: Denard Span, Washington Nationals
7 of 10
2015 Stats: .302/.340/.535, 2 HR, 7 RBI
Denard Span has hit the ground running since the Nationals activated him from the disabled list on April 19. Over the last week, he's kicked it into overdrive.
During that span, the leadoff hitter went 8-for-23 with two home runs. The bad news? He left Thursday's game against the New York Mets with what James Wagner of The Washington Post termed "abdominal soreness."
"Ran out there and started to feel it a little bit in my last at-bat," Span, who had core muscle surgery in March, said after the game, per Wagner. "[Went] out there to play defense and my intuition told me, 'You know what? I think I just need to go ahead and cash it in and see if I can get some treatment on it and get better [Friday].'"
Washington, which is off to a sluggish 10-13 start but has won three straight, had better hope Span comes back sooner than later.
Right Field: Josh Reddick, Oakland A's
8 of 10
2015 Stats: .368/.429/.561, 2 HR, 12 RBI
After going 2-for-4 in a 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday, Josh Reddick finished his week with a .500 batting average to go along with a double, a triple, a home run and seven RBI.
Reddick clubbed 32 home runs in 2012, but his production has tailed off the last two years, and he started this season on the disabled list with a strained oblique.
A few more scalding weeks, and it'll be time to think comeback thoughts.
Designated Hitter: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox
9 of 10
2015 Stats: .236/.337/.444, 4 HR, 11 RBI
As noted, newcomers Ramirez and Sandoval have been shouldering the offensive load in Boston, but this week, a Beantown fixture got into the mix.
Coming off a 1-for-14 stretch, David Ortiz rapped out seven hits in 20 at-bats, including two doubles and a home run.
As Big Papi goes, so goes Boston. Or as Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald put it after Ortiz launched a three-run home run in a 7-5 win over the Baltimore Orioles on April 24, that blast "might've been the equivalent of taking a pair of jumper cables and shoving five volts of electricity straight into the heart of the Red Sox offense."
Pitcher: Dallas Keuchel, Houston Astros
10 of 10
2015 Stats: 37 IP, 0.73 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, 22 SO
Dallas Keuchel has been dazzling all month, but he put together easily his best two-start stretch this week.
On April 24, the left-hander twirled nine shutout frames against the A's, a game Houston ultimately won 5-4 in 11 innings.
Keuchel backed it up on April 29, allowing one earned run on three hits in eight innings and earning the win as the Astros rolled 7-2 over the San Diego Padres.
'Stros fans may be drooling, but Keuchel, who has surrendered just three earned runs all season, brushes aside his early success.
"I don't really take much out of the first five starts," he said after his win against San Diego, per MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. "[I've] got to continue to grind and try to get better each and every time out."
All statistics current as of April 30 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
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