Nick Kurtz of the Athletics named American League Player of the Week Presented by Chevrolet; Michael Harris II of the Braves named National League Player of the Week Presented by Chevrolet

Record-setting rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz of the Athletics has been named the American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet for the second consecutive week, and center fielder Michael Harris II of the Atlanta Braves has been named the National League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Kurtz won his second career award following his first career honor last week. He remains the only rookie to win the award this year and is the second A’s player to win the award in consecutive weeks, joining Tony Armas, who won on April 10^th and April 17^th in 1981. Kurtz is the second rookie to earn honors in back-to-back weeks, joining Gary Sánchez (who became the first player to achieve the feat on 8/20 & 8/27/2016 with the New York Yankees). It is the ninth time the A’s have won the award in back-to-back weeks, and the first time since 2000 when Barry Zito won on September 9^th and Jason Giambi earned co-honors on September 16^th. Harris also earned his second career honor after previously winning on June 20, 2023. It is the second honor for the Braves this season, joining Ronald Acuña Jr.’s award on June 16^th.

Nick Kurtz, Athletics (@nickkurtz_8)

• The 22-year-old hit .600 (15-for-25) with five homers, 11 RBI, five doubles, three walks, nine runs scored, three walks, a stolen base, a 1.400 slugging percentage and a .643 on-base percentage in six games.
• The Lancaster, Pennsylvania native paced the Majors in batting average, homers, RBI, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS (2.043), hits, extra-base hits (10) and total bases (35); tied for the Major League lead in doubles; and tied for second in runs scored.
• The rookie put together one of the best games in Baseball history on Friday at Houston, going 6-for-6 with four homers, eight RBI, six runs scored and a double, becoming the first rookie ever and the first player in A’s history to notch four homers in a game. Overall, it marked the 20^th four-homer performance in Major League history, and the second this season following the four-homer game by Arizona’s Eugenio Suárez on April 26^th. Kurtz (22.135) and Suárez (33.282) are now the youngest and oldest players respectively in Major League history with a four-homer game, with Kurtz surpassing Pat Seerey (25.123 on 7/18/1948) as the youngest. With 19 total bases on the night, Kurtz also tied Shawn Green’s 2002 record with the Dodgers for the most-ever in a game. Finally, his six hits matched the franchise record and were the most by an A’s player since Joe DeMaestri on July 8, 1955.
• The fourth overall selection in the 2024 Draft has hit safely in a career-best 13 consecutive games since July 10^th over which he is batting .549 (28-for-51) with nine homers, 20 RBI, 10 doubles, a triple, seven walks, 19 runs scored, a .603 on-base percentage, a 1.314 slugging percentage and a 1.917 OPS. During the streak he has produced eight multi-hit games.
• The Wake Forest University product has hammered 11 home runs in July, tied with Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber for the most in the Majors. Additionally, Kurtz leads the Majors since July 1^st in batting average (.429), on-base percentage (.500), slugging (1.052), OPS (1.552), doubles (13), extra-base hits (25) and total bases (81).

Michael Harris II, Atlanta Braves (@mike.harris24)

• The 24-year-old hit .478 (11-for-23) with two homers, three RBI, two doubles, two triples, a walk, five runs scored, a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage across six games.
• The DeKalb, Georgia native ranked second in the Majors, trailing only Kurtz, in batting average, slugging, OPS (1.500) and total bases (23); tied for first in triples; tied for third in extra-base hits (6); tied for sixth in hits; and tied for seventh in on-base percentage.
• The 2022 Jackie Robinson NL Rookie of the Year had four extra-base hits on Saturday at Texas, tallying a double, two triples and a homer, coming up a single short of the cycle. He became the first Brave with four extra-base hits in a game since Freddie Freeman on April 17, 2017, and became Atlanta’s first player with multiple triples in a game since Jeff Francoeur on April 12, 2009. Since 1900, he is the ninth player and first Brave to hit a homer, a double and two triples in the same game and the first since Seattle’s Kyle Seager on June 2, 2014.
• The third-round selection in the 2019 Draft also homered on Friday night at Texas, marking the second time this season that he has homered in back-to-back games and the ninth time in his career that he has homered in at least two consecutive games.
• Harris notched four multi-hit games during the week, adding two-hit performances on Tuesday against San Francisco, and Friday and Sunday at Texas. He has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games since July 11^th, batting .400 (18-for-45) with three homers, six RBI, four doubles, two triples, nine runs scored and a 1.204 OPS during the stretch.

Other noteworthy AL performances for the week included All-Star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (.467, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 4 2B, 4 BB, 9 R, .529 OBP), outfielder George Springer (.448, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 2B, 5 BB, 10 R, .529 OBP), shortstop Bo Bichette (.375, 1 HR, 10 RBI, 5 2B, 1 BB, 4 R) and starting pitcher Kevin Gausman (1-0, 0.69 ERA, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 18 SO) of the owners of MLB’s best current record, the Toronto Blue Jays; outfielder Tyler O’Neill (.438, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 1 2B, 3 BB, 6 R, 1.063 SLG, .526 OBP) of the Baltimore Orioles; All-Star center fielder Julio Rodríguez (.300, 4 HR, 4 RBI, 4 R, 1 SB) of the Seattle Mariners; Kurtz’s teammates, catcher Shea Langeliers (.385, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 3 BB, 5 R) and starting pitcher J.T. Ginn (1-0, 0.82 ERA, 2 GS, 11.0 IP, 8 H, 1 BB, 6 SO); and starting pitcher Jack Leiter (2-0, 2.25 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 6 H, 7 BB, 14 SO) of the Texas Rangers.

Other noteworthy NL performances last week included All-Star starting pitcher Paul Skenes (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 15 SO), first baseman Spencer Horwitz (.348, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 2 2B, 3 BB, 4 R) and closer David Bednar (0.00 ERA, 4 G, 3 SV, 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 6 SO) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; All-Star designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (.296, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 5 R) of the Philadelphia Phillies; outfielder Jackson Chourio (.458, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 4 2B, 2 BB, 4 R, 1 SB, .500 OBP) of the Milwaukee Brewers; rookie third baseman Matt Shaw (.400, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 2 2B, 1 BB, 5 R, 2 SB, .950 SLG) of the Chicago Cubs; All-Star closer Edwin Díaz (0.00 ERA, 4 G, 4 SV, 4.1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 8 SO) of the New York Mets; first baseman Willson Contreras (.417, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 5 2B, 2 BB, 6 R, .875 SLG, .517 OBP) of the St. Louis Cardinals; All-Star third baseman Manny Machado (.448, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 4 2B, 1 R) and first baseman/designated hitter Luis Arraez (.379, 3 RBI, 3 2B, 1 BB, 5 R, 1 SB) of the San Diego Padres; shortstop Willy Adames (.409, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 2B, 5 BB, 7 R, .536 OBP) of the San Francisco Giants; and All-Star outfielder Kyle Stowers (.350, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 2B, 4 BB, 4 R, 1 SB, .800 SLG) of the Miami Marlins.

Electric Play of the Week presented by Chevrolet

Home Run Robbery by Jacob Young of the Washington Nationals

July 23^rd at Nationals Park – Watch It Here

Nationals center fielder Jacob Young earned his second career Play of the Week Award after previously winning earlier this month on July 7^th. Overall, it is the sixth honor for Washington with Young’s pair of awards joining Anthony Rendon (5/26/2019); Victor Robles (2x, 6/11/2019 & 8/31/2020); and CJ Abrams (9/19/2022). With two outs in the top of the eighth inning and the Reds already leading 3-0, Will Benson hit a ball to deep center field as Young ranged back and climbed the wall to make an amazing catch and take a home run away. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Cedric Mullins’ long run and diving grab; J.T. Realmuto’s leaping tag at home plate to complete a double play; Brenton Doyle’s long run and diving catch to start a double play; Ramón Urías’ backhanded pick-up and throw to end the game; and Lawrence Butler’s home run robbery.