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Welcome back, Shohei Ohtani.
He may only be a one-way superstar this year, but Ohtani looks as comfortable as ever as he ends a roller-coaster first month with the Los Angeles Dodgers. His performance at the plate has landed him back on my Team of the Week for the first time in 2024, along with one of his new Dodgers teammates who just became a “friend of the show,” and of course received a patented “Flippin’ Bats” bump in his performance.
Meanwhile, a Seattle Mariners star is on pace for more starts than walks allowed this season and a familiar face from the New York Yankees looks ready to turn the page on a dismal 2023.
It’s time for my latest Team of the Week!
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Catcher: Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers
.417 batting average, 1 HR, 6 RBIs, 1.153 OPS
Let this be another reminder — if you are an MLB player who would like to play good baseball, coming on “Flippin’ Bats” will help you! This has been the case for years now. I don’t know what it is, but the results speak for themselves. Smith joined me in the middle of last week and has been lighting it up at the plate over the past several days. The Dodgers have rattled off a six-game winning streak as well. Coincidence? You be the judge.
First Baseman: Anthony Rizzo, New York Yankees
.308 batting average, 4 HR, 6 RBIs, .987 OPS
This was a tough one for me because Smith’s teammate Freddie Freeman also had a really good week. But Rizzo gets the nod here thanks to his four homers. It’s great to see the 34-year-old veteran look like the Rizzo of old after that awful situation in 2023 where he played for several weeks with misdiagnosed concussion symptoms and had the worst season of his career.
Second Baseman: Edouard Julien, Minnesota Twins
.417 batting average, 3 HR, 7 RBIs, 1.417 OPS
I’ve been beating the Edouard Julien drum since he starred for Canada in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He struggled mightily for the Twins to begin this season, but I still believed. Sure enough, he’s delivered and is a big reason the Twins have won seven games in a row.
Third Baseman: Alec Bohm, Philadelphia Phillies
.567 batting average, 1 HR, 9 RBIs, 1.481 OPS
Like a lot of Phillies teammates, Bohm is there for his bat more than his glove, and boy has he been swinging a hot bat, with 17 hits — including seven doubles — for an average well above .500 over the past week.
Shortstop: Gunnar Henderson, Baltimore Orioles
.360 batting average, 3 HR, 7 RBIs, 1.273 OPS
Trea Turner edged out Henderson last week, but not this week. Henderson has been great all season long and gets some well-deserved love here.
Outfield: Mark Canha, Detroit Tigers
.435 batting average, 2 HR, 6 RBIs, 1.301 OPS
Canha was hardly the most hyped free-agent signing of the offseason, but he has been huge for that Tigers lineup, as several younger players have struggled, as has Javier Baez.
Outfield: Jo Adell, Los Angeles Angels
.438 batting average, 2 HR, 5 RBIs, 1.425 OPS
Adell may run the bases like a confused little leaguer, but at least he has been great in the batter’s box recently for an Angels team once again desperately looking for any help around Mike Trout.
Outfield: Alex Verdugo, New York Yankees
.409 batting average, 2 HR, 8 RBIs, 1.165 OPS
Just as everyone expected, the players representing the Angels and Yankees in this Team of the Week are … Jo Adell, Anthony Rizzo and Alex Verdugo. But when you rake, you get on this list, and Verdugo certainly fits the bill as much as anyone else included here.
Designated Hitter: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
.308 batting average, 3 HR, 7 RBIs, 1.417 OPS
Ohtani may have averaged more than 100 mph in exit velocity this week. His .308 mark actually brought down his season batting average, but he still crushed the ball all week long.
Starting Pitcher: George Kirby, Seattle Mariners
1-0, 12 innings pitched, 19 strikeouts, 2 walks, 7 hits, 0 runs
Kirby has started 62 games in his MLB career. He has issued 45 walks in his MLB career. I think that is one of the coolest stats in baseball. But the pressure is on Kirby and his fellow starters — with Seattle’s lack of lineup depth around Julio Rodriguez, the Mariners will only go as far as Kirby and the rest of that talented rotation will take them.
Relief Pitcher: Mason Miller, Oakland Athletics
3 saves, 3.1 innings pitched, 8 strikeouts, 0 walks, 1 hit, 0 runs
We will not be talking about the Athletics much this year, at least when it pertains to on-field things. But Miller’s stuff is nasty, and he is perhaps the one guy on this team who merits appointment viewing. Miller’s fastball touches 104 miles per hour. His slider has incredible bite. He may be the sport’s most dominant pitcher right now. Before you say anything, go back and watch what he did to Yankees superstars Aaron Judge and Juan Soto when he faced them this past week. Miller has loads of confidence and the ability to back it up.
Player of the Week: George Kirby
Kirby has turned it around big time after a rough start to the year, showing how good he can be when he’s clicking. This is the Kirby I envisioned when I picked the Mariners as one of my preseason sleeper teams. I don’t usually select starting pitchers to be my player of the week, but Kirby was just that dominant.
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Ben Verlander is an MLB Analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the “Flippin’ Bats” podcast. Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Verlander was an All-American at Old Dominion University before he joined his brother, Justin, in Detroit as a 14th-round pick of the Tigers in 2013. He spent five years in the Tigers organization. Follow him at @BenVerlander.
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