MLB Team of the Week: Dee Gordon, Yasmani Grandal and Nelson Cruz Star
We've turned the calendar on April and put another week of baseball action in the rearview mirror, which means it's time once again for Bleacher Report's MLB Team of the Week.
You know the drill by now, but for those new to the party: These are the players (one per position, plus a designated hitter) who have blown up box scores over the last seven days.
We'll give you their overall stats for context, but we're judging them solely on what they accomplished between May 1 and May 7.
To qualify, a player needs at least two starts at the position in question or at least one start in the case of pitchers. Speaking of which, we're only considering starting hurlers—sorry, bullpen-dwellers. And extra credit is awarded if a strong individual performance led to notches in the win column.
Catcher: Yasmani Grandal, Los Angeles Dodgers
1 of 10
2015 Stats: .301/.414/.534, 4 HR, 12 RBI
Yasmani Grandal had a good week, but more than that he had a monster game.
Overall, the Los Angeles Dodgers backstop went 12-for-20 with three home runs and 10 RBI. But four of those hits, two of those home runs and an eye-popping eight of those RBI came Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Not surprisingly, the Dodgers cruised to a 14-4 win.
As Los Angeles skipper Don Mattingly put it after the game, per MLB.com's Adam McCalvy and Ken Gurnick: "[Grandal has] gotten on a roll, and I hope he stays on it."
First Base: Kyle Blanks, Texas Rangers
2 of 10
2015 Stats: .375/.412/.719, 3 HR, 5 RBI
Welcome (back) to the big leagues, Kyle Blanks.
Blanks, a 28-year-old journeyman who has spent part of six seasons with the San Diego Padres and Oakland A's, was called up to the Rangers on April 29 after posting a 1.054 OPS in the Pacific Coast League.
Over the past week he's amassed 12 hits in 29 at-bats with three home runs and five RBI.
On a Rangers team that's searching for a spark, that's some welcome heat.
Second Base: Dee Gordon, Miami Marlins
3 of 10
2015 Stats: .437/.461/.521, 2 3B, 12 SB
In the early going, Dee Gordon has done a credible impression of Ichiro Suzuki (his current teammate) in his prime, as FanGraphs' Jeff Sullivan elucidates:
"Gordon’s been swinging like prime Ichiro. He’s been running like prime Ichiro, and he’s been putting the ball on the ground and spraying it like prime Ichiro. He hasn’t slugged the occasional dinger like prime Ichiro, and he has overall hit the ball a little softer, but the results are alike, right down to the base hits on routine grounders.
It’s a frustrating skillset to play against. Singles can appear out of nowhere.
"
Gordon has maintained that flattering, though likely unsustainable, comparison during the past week, going 14-for-26 with a double, a triple and four stolen bases.
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Third Base: Brett Lawrie, Oakland A's
4 of 10
2015 Stats: .279/.308/.378, 2 HR, 14 RBI
Entering play Friday, Brett Lawrie is riding a 11-game hitting streak. Over the last week, he has hit a robust .429 with three doubles and three RBI.
The A's have gone 3-4 during that stretch, but they'll certainly take more of the same from Lawrie as they try to stay in the mix in the wide-open AL West.
Shortstop: Andrelton Simmons, Atlanta Braves
5 of 10
2015 Stats: .292/.359/.462, 2 HR, 15 RBI
A rebuilding squad with basement status written all over them, the Atlanta Braves have jumped out to a respectable 14-14 start.
For the past week, Andrelton Simmons has vaulted past respectable, going 10-for-21 with three doubles, a triple and a home run.
"I don't want to say [things are clicking at the plate], because whenever you say that is when things go south," the 25-year-old infielder said, per Fox Sports South's Cory McCartney. "But I've been feeling pretty good and I'm just trying to keep that same feeling every day."
Left Field: Ben Revere, Philadelphia Phillies
6 of 10
2015 Stats: .264/.304/.368, 3 3B, 8 RBI
The Philadelphia Phillies stumbled through a 2-4 week, but Ben Revere streaked ahead of the pack.
The speedy left fielder banged out 11 hits in 27 at-bats including three doubles, hiking his batting average from .215 to .264 and his on-base percentage from .271 to .304.
"[In] April, I kept saying I’m going to keep hitting the ball hard and sooner or later the balls are going to fall,” Revere said, per Sports Journal's Christian Reilly.
Now it's May, and they're falling.
Center Field: Jacoby Ellsbury, New York Yankees
7 of 10
2015 Stats: .363/.438/.416, HR, 4 RBI
Jacoby Ellsbury has just four extra-base hits all season. Overall, though, he banged out 14 knocks this week, more than any other player.
Alex Rodriguez grabbed all the headlines by passing Willie Mays on the all-time home run list. But right now Ellsbury is leading the offensive charge for the Bronx Bombers, who went 5-2 and own a three-game lead over the second-place Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.
Right Field: Torii Hunter, Minnesota Twins
8 of 10
2015 Stats: .252/.291/.388, 3 HR, 14 RBI
It was turn back the clock week for Torii Hunter.
The veteran outfielder made two All-Star teams and was consistently among the AL's top performers during his first tenure with the Minnesota Twins. He played like that guy over the last seven days, going 11-for-30 with two home runs and seven RBI.
The Twins, meanwhile, went 6-1 over the same stretch.
"Just trying to pump my guys up," Hunter said after launching a three-run blast against the Oakland A's on May 4 and flipping his bat, per The Associated Press (h/t ABC News). "I've got a little fire sometimes."
Designated Hitter: Nelson Cruz, Seattle Mariners
9 of 10
2015 Stats: .333/.373/.757, 14 HR, 26 RBI
Nelson Cruz just won't stop hitting home runs. MLB's dinger leader added four more this week, giving him 14 for the season.
Overall, he collected nine hits in 24 at-bats and raised his OPS to a robust 1.130, though his Seattle Mariners went a disappointing 1-5 and sank to the cellar of the AL West.
In this supposedly punchless new era where pitching and defense reign, Cruz is on pace to bash a record-shattering 81 long balls.
What's his secret? Perhaps it's his minimalist, Zen-like approach, which Cruz spelled out for Yahoo Sports' Tim Brown: "[You] don't think so much about hitting. When you do good, you don't have to think."
Pitcher: Kyle Gibson, Minnesota Twins
10 of 10
2015 Stats: 36.1 IP, 2.97 ERA, 1.350 WHIP, 11 SO
Kyle Gibson put together his best start of the season on May 1 and backed it up with his second-best start on May 6.
First, the 27-year-old right-hander blanked the Chicago White Sox for eight innings en route to a 1-0 win for the Twins.
Five days later, he again threw up zeroes, this time six of them, and Minnesota's offense went nuts in a 13-0 victory over the A's.
The constant was Gibson, who doesn't have overpowering stuff but has now thrown 17 consecutive shutout innings and lowered his ERA to 2.97.
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