Major League Baseball

Max Muncy, Pete Alonso make Ben Verlander's team of the week a second time

Updated Apr. 24, 2023 4:02 p.m. ET

As the first month of the MLB season nears its conclusion, Ben Verlander dropped his fourth team of the week on Monday's episode of "Flippin' Bats."

Just like every other week, there were plenty of standout performances around the league. There are also some repeat players on Verlander's team of the week, as they're looking build early All-Star cases.

Without further ado, here's Verlander's team of the week, which is accompanied by his thoughts on each player and their respective stat lines in the week that began on April 16 and ran through April 23.

Rangers' Marcus Semien & Dodgers' Max Muncy headline Ben's Team of the Week

Ben Verlander presents his Team of the Week, headlined by the Texas Rangers ‘Marcus Semien and Los Angeles Dodgers’ Max Muncy.

Catcher: Jonah Heim, Texas Rangers — .462 batting average, two home runs, 10 RBIs, six walks

Verlander's thoughts: "What more do you need to know [than looking at his statline]? He hit .462 as a catcher, [that's really impressive]."

First base: Pete Alonso, New York Mets — .300 batting average, three home runs, 10 RBIs

Verlander's thoughts: "Pete Alonso just keeps hitting home runs. … Even in a tough ballpark to hit home runs at night in San Francisco (where the Mets played this weekend), he just keeps leading the charge. Pete's doing great."

Second base: Marcus Semien, Texas Rangers — .455 batting average, three home runs, 12 RBIs

Verlander's thoughts: "This is the guy that you paid [$175 million]. You paid him a lot of money to be there for a lot of years last offseason. It's a remarkable stretch for him. Semien had, what I believe, a down year last season, but it started with that stretch he went on, which was inexplicable to start the year, without hitting a home run for the longest drought of his career. It was wild. But then, from the second half on, he was really good — and to start this year he's been fantastic. This week was next level."

Third base: Max Muncy, Los Angeles Dodgers — .333 batting average, four home runs, 5 RBIs, nine walks

Verlander's thoughts: "Look, Max Muncy, this is all you need to know: His last 14 hits, 10 of them have been home runs. That's remarkable. End of story."

Shortstop: Tommy Edman, St. Lous Cardinals — .333 batting average, two home runs, seven RBIs

Verlander's thoughts: "Tommy Edman has been playing some really good baseball. I was looking over these numbers last night, it was more of a down week for shortstops around baseball. We saw Bo Bichette last week hitting around .500. But this week, Tommy Edman was the cream of the crop."

Outfield: Adolis García, Texas Rangers — .364 batting average, four home runs, 14 RBIs

Verlander's thoughts: "He had three home runs in a game the other night."

Outfield: Brandon Nimmo, New York Mets — .484 batting average, .500 on-base percentage, two home runs

Verlander's thoughts: "A .484 batting average and a .500 on-base percentage, I'm not great at math, but I know that's almost half. He got on base half the time this week to go along with two home runs. Nutty. Insane."

Outfield: James Outman, Los Angeles Dodgers — .370 batting average, four home runs, nine RBIs

Verlander's thoughts: "Six home runs so far through March and April, which is an all-time record for a Dodgers rookie. The guy is on a tear."

Designated hitter: Patrick Wisdom, Chicago Cubs — .290 batting average, four home runs, 10 RBIs

Verlander's thoughts: "Patrick Wisdom is just mashing to start the year. He hit four more home runs this week. Wisdom has always seemed to me to be a boom-or-bust kind of guy — he either hits a home run or strikes out a good bit. He hit .290 on the week and has a higher batting average this year than last year. I would love to see Patrick Wisdom hit .275 with 35 home runs. That'd be great."

Starting pitcher: Zac Gallen, Arizona Diamondbacks — 2-0, zero earned runs, four hits, 18 strikeouts, 13 2/3 innings pitched

Verlander's thoughts: "He made two starts this week. He didn't give up a run. He gave up just four hits in 13 2/3 innings! [His stats this week] are remarkable. When I do the team of the week, guys who throw twice have an edge, especially if you threw well. He threw twice and pitched lights out in both of them."

Closing pitcher: Josh Hader, San Diego Padres — Three saves, four innings pitched, zero earned runs, zero hits, four strikeouts.

Verlander's thoughts: "When he's going right and when Edwin Díaz is not in baseball, Josh Hader is the best closer in the game."

Player of the week: Marcus Semien, Texas Rangers

Verlander's thoughts: "It's hard to do better than a .455 batting average on the week with three home runs, 12 RBIs while scoring nine runs. That's a good month. That's how good he was."

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