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Aaron Judge, Nolan Arenado headline Ben Verlander's team of the week
This week featured a lot of players slugging, with one star powering his way through the drama surrounding him. Another team is on a roll due in part to a pair of key infielders mashing the ball.
Without further ado, here's my team of the week!
Yankees' Aaron Judge & Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. highlight Ben's Team of the Week
Catcher: Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners — .438 batting average, two home runs, 1.464 OPS
Friend of the pod Cal Raleigh had a great week! The guy's hitting home runs over the Green Monster. He's hitting home runs right-handed. He's hitting home runs left-handed. He just hits homers. That's what he does. He led Major League Baseball in homers for catchers last season while not even playing the whole season in the big leagues.
First base: Josh Naylor, Cleveland Guardians — .546 batting average, two home runs, eight RBIs, 1.091 slugging percentage
What a week for Josh Naylor. I'm no mathematician, but .546 is over half — over half the time he's getting a hit. That's wild.
Second base: Nolan Gorman, St. Louis Cardinals — .444 batting average, four home runs, 12 RBIs, 1.494 OPS
Is Nolan Gorman an All-Star? That's my question around him. The majority of the time he's hitting against righties, but he hit a homer against Dodgers lefty Victor Gonzalez on Saturday night. Gorman has been on a tear this season. It's been a blast to watch him.
Third base: Nolan Arenado, St. Louis Cardinals — .357 batting average, four home runs, 12 RBIs, 1.173 OPS
Arenado is also on a tear. Both of the Cardinals' Nolans are going off these days! The best third baseman in the game is now playing like the best third baseman in the game.
Shortstop: Orlando Arcia, Atlanta Braves — .333 batting average, two home runs, five RBIs, 1.131 OPS
This was a good week for Arcia. The Braves' shortstop situation has been kind of tricky this year. We wondered who was going to be plugged in there? Arcia started off well and then Vaughn Grissom emerged. Well, Arcia had a great week and I think he's establishing himself as their shortstop this season.
Outfield: Aaron Judge, New York Yankees — .444 batting average, five home runs, 12 RBIs, 1.633 OPS
A pretty great start for my outfielders. Since Aaron Judge came back from the injured list, there haven't been many players, if any players, better than him. He's heating up. His power's coming along. Aaron Judge is doing Aaron Judge things.
Outfield: Adolis García, Texas Rangers — .364 batting average, five home runs, 12 RBIs, 1.091 slugging percentage
Adolis Garcia continues to be underrated, in my opinion. The two names you hear when you talk about the Rangers are Marcus Semien and Corey Seager. Those are the stars of the Rangers, and they've been great this year. But put some respect on Adolis Garcia's name! He's leading the league in RBIs (49).
Outfield: Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta Braves — .375 batting average, four home runs, five RBIs, 1.361 OPS
Acuña hit 450-foot bombs this week. Many of them. He's continuing to do Ronald Acuña things.
Designated hitter: Christopher Morel, Chicago Cubs — .360 batting average, five home runs, eight RBIs, 1.040 slugging percentage
Christopher Morel is second on the Cubs in home runs this year (eight) and he was just called up a couple of weeks ago, playing in just 11 games. Five of those home runs came this week. He also hit .360 with eight RBIs and slugged over 1.000. Morel's striking out a lot, but that matters way less with this sort of pop.
Starting pitcher: Mich Keller, Pittsburgh Pirates — 1-0, 1.38 ERA, 13 innings pitched, 21 strikeouts, seven hits, zero walks
Mitch Keller got two starts last week, with one of them being a complete game. He had 21 strikeouts to zero walks in 13 innings! That's quite the strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Closing pitcher: Dylan Floro, Miami Marlins — four saves, zero earned runs, 4 ⅓ innings pitched, three strikeouts, one hit
He's never been on this list! In fact, the Marlins don't really have a certified closer. But Florio stepped up to be that guy in their bullpen. Floro ended up with four saves this week for the Marlins, who, by the way, are playing well lately (6-4 in their last 10 and holding a 24-23 record).
Player of the week: Aaron Judge
Since he's come back from the injured list, he's hitting over .400, and on the week he hit .444 with five home runs, 12 RBIs and an OPS of 1.633. And he did all of that while dealing with all of that nonsense in the media with the Blue Jays situation and peeking over to the dugout, pointing out toward the outfield.
How do you deal with all of that in the media? Well, it didn't matter how he handled it with the media because what he was doing on the field is how he handled all of this. He said, "Hey, I’m Aaron Judge and you can watch me hit home runs." And he did that five times this week.
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