Rookie second baseman Luke Keaschall of the Minnesota Twins has been named the American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet, and rookie outfielder Isaac Collins of the Milwaukee Brewers been named the National League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.
Keaschall earned his first career honor and is the second Twin to win the award this season, joining Ty France on April 14th, and is Minnesota’s first rookie to win since Danny Santana earned co-honors with temamate Trevor Plouffe on August 24, 2014. Collins also earned his first career award, marking the third recognition for Milwaukee this season, following awards to William Contreras on April 14th and Christian Yelich on June 2nd. Collins is the first Brewers rookie to win the award since Keston Hiura on July 22, 2019. It is the first time a rookie has been honored from each league in the same week since September 16th of last season when Michael Busch of the Chicago Cubs and Keider Montero of the Detroit Tigers earned the honors.
Luke Keaschall, Minnesota Twins (@lukekeaschall)
- The 22-year-old hit .455 (10-for-22) with two homers, 10 RBI, three doubles, two runs scored, an .864 slugging percentage and a .455 on-base percentage across five games.
- The Watsonville, California native tied for the Major League lead in RBI; ranked third among AL hitters in batting average; fifth in slugging; seventh in hits; and seventh in total bases (19).
- The second-round selection in the 2023 Draft capped off his week with a two-run walk-off homer on Sunday against the Royals to help Minnesota earn a series victory in the three-game set. Per Elias, at 22 years, 360 days old, he became the fourth-youngest player in Twins’ history with a walk-off home run, trailing Tom Brunansky (4/30/1983, 22.253); Buddy Lewis (7/2/1939, 22.326); Luis Rivas (8/3/2002, 22.338).
- The Arizona State University product opened his week with multiple RBI in three consecutive games, tallying three RBI on Tuesday and Wednesday at Detroit, followed by a pair of RBI on Friday against Kansas City. He is the seventh Twins player (ninth occurrence) under the age of 23 with multiple RBI in three consecutive games and the first since Hall of Fame David Ortiz from April 12-16, 1998.
- Keaschall, who was placed on the Injured List with a right forearm fracture in April after just seven Major League games, has worked an 11-game hitting streak across his first 12 career games, marking the second-longest hitting streak to begin a career in Twins’ history behind a 13-game stretch from Glenn Williams in June 2005. Keaschall has reached base in all 12 games in his career, as he was hit-by-pitch in his first plate appearance on April 25th before going on the Injured List.
Isaac Collins, Milwaukee Brewers (@isaaccollins2)
- The 28-year-old hit .476 with two homers, eight RBI, two doubles, a triple, three walks, six runs scored, a stolen base, a .952 slugging percentage and a .577 on-base percentage.
- The Maple Grove, Minnesota native led the Majors in batting average, OPS (1.529), hits and total bases (20); tied for first in extra-base hits (5) and triples; ranked second in on-base percentage and slugging; tied for second in homers and runs scored; and ranked third in RBI.
- The National League Rookie of the Month for July helped Milwaukee complete a three-game sweep of the Mets at American Family Field on Sunday as he hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. It marked his eighth career home run and his first at American Family Field, belting seven homers on the road so far this season.
- The ninth-round selection in the 2019 MLB Draft has reached base safely in each of his first eight games in August, recording five multi-hit games with a pair of three-hit games. During the eight-game stretch, he is slashing .452/.541/.806/1.347 with two homers, 10 RBI and four walks. It is the second-longest on-base streak of his career, following a 10-game stretch from June 14th-27th.
- The Creighton University product has helped the Brewers to a 16-4 record over his last 20 games, becoming just the second player since 1901 with a 20-game span that included a walk-off homer, at least 16 team wins and at least 10-multi hit games, joining Yasiel Puig in 2013. Among qualified rookies this season, Collins leads the group in on-base percentage (.395) and walks (40); ranks second in OPS (.843); and ranks third in batting average (.295) and slugging (.448).
Other noteworthy AL performances for the week included center fielder Daulton Varsho (.444, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 1 2B, 4 BB, 3 R, 1.00 SLG, .545 OBP), infielder Ernie Clement (.400, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 2 2B, 9 R, .833 SLG), shortstop Bo Bichette (.310, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 2 2B, 1 BB, 8 R) and All-Star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (.393, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 4 2B, 1 BB, 8 R, .857 SLG) of the Toronto Blue Jays; catcher Shea Langeliers (.370, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 2 2B, 1 BB, 6 R, .889 SLG) of the Athletics; first baseman Josh Naylor (.500, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB, 6 R, 5 SB, 1.286 SLG, .588 OBP) and All-Star starting pitcher Bryan Woo (2-0, 2.77 ERA, 2 GS, 13.0 IP, 9 H, 1 BB, 18 SO) of the Seattle Mariners; starting pitcher Jason Alexander (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 4 H, 4 BB, 9 SO), infielder Carlos Correa (.480, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 4 BB, 3 R, .552 OBP) and second baseman Jose Altuve (.400, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 1 2B, 4 BB, 7 R, 2 SB, .800 SLG) of the Houston Astros; Keaschall’s teammate, catcher/designated hitter Ryan Jeffers (.462, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 3 2B, 1 BB, 7 R, .500 OBP); All-Star third baseman Junior Caminero (.364, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 1 BB, 5 R, .909 SLG) of the Tampa Bay Rays; outfielder/designated hitter Kerry Carpenter (.350, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 2 2B, 4 R, .900 SLG) of the Detroit Tigers; and reliever Cade Smith (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 4 G, 2 SV, 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 5 SO) of the Cleveland Guardians.
Other noteworthy NL performances last week included All-Star designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (.458, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 2 2B, 5 BB, 9 R, 2 SB, .917 SLG) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; rookie catcher Drake Baldwin (.360, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 2 BB, 5 R) and left fielder Jurickson Profar (.269, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 1 2B, 10 BB, 10 R, 1 SB) of the Atlanta Braves; second baseman Xavier Edwards (.417, 4 RBI, 2 2B, 3 R) and rookie outfielder Jakob Marsee (.391, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 4 BB, 4 R, 5 SB) of the Miami Marlins; and starting pitcher Shota Imanaga (2.77 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 7 H, 0 BB, 16 SO) of the Chicago Cubs.
Electric Play of the Week presented by Chevrolet
Home Run Robbery by Jurickson Profar of the Atlanta Braves
August 9th at Truist Park – Watch It Here
Braves left fielder Jurickson Profar earned his first career Play of the Week Award, marking the 10th award in Braves’ history and the second this season following Ronald Acuña Jr.’s award on July 21st. The Braves are one of four franchises with at least 10 awards since the inception of the award in 2019, joining the Baltimore Orioles (14 awards), Milwaukee Brewers (12 awards) and New York Mets (10 awards). With one out and the Braves leading 3-0 in the fourth inning, Agustin Ramírez hit a ball to deep left field as Profar ranged back and climbed the wall to reach over and bring the home run back into the yard. Additional Play of the Week candidates included Blake Perkins’ game-ending assist at the plate; Adolis García’s juggling barehanded catch; Riley Greene’s diving catch; Willy Adames’ spinning stop and throw to first; Jake Mangum’s full-extension diving grab; and Josh Smith’s sliding catch near the dugout.