What a great time to be a sports fan. Internationally we have the World Cup starting in Brazil, NBA finals and Stanley Cup finals are heating up, and Major League Baseball is in the winding down stage of the first half of the season, our televisions are going to be busy for awhile. With that being said here are this week’s MLB standout players of the week.
AL Standout – Alex Gordon
Kansas City Royals outfielder Alex Gordon has put together quite a week for himself at the plate for the struggling Royals. When this season started, I was one of the people who felt it was Royals time to make that leap and dethrone the Detroit Tigers. Since the Tigers Sweep of the Boston Red Sox in Boston, the Tigers have been on a slide where nothing is going right and all of a sudden the AL Central is up for grabs. Therefore, the week the Gordon has had should be the spark the Royals need to make a run come seasons end. This week, Alex Gordon put together a .421 batting average, .607 OBP, .895 SLG, and has added two home runs to five RBI. Alex Gordon is this week’s AL standout player of the week.
NL Standout – Troy Tulowitzki
Another week is in the books and look who is back above the rest, Colorado Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki. The past few weeks, Tulowitzki has had a minor cold streak though most people wouldn’t have really noticed because of his hot start to the season and this week is just another notch in his belt to quite possibly an MVP at season’s end. While this week has not been Tulowitzki’s best week, it was still and outstanding week of baseball with a .440 batting average, .462 OBP, .880 SLG, and has added three home runs to five RBI. Troy Tulowitzki is this week’s NL standout player of the week.
Surprise of the week – Nick Castellanos
While it pains me to write because I’m born and raised in Michigan and is a huge Detroit Tigers fan, I am on the edge right now on how bad this team is playing. Besides a few players, this team is just playing bad baseball right now but being optimistic about it is that it June and for any team you root for you rather have this funk right now instead down the stretch in September. Saying that, one third base rookie in Nick Castellanos has had a great week at the plate for the struggling Tigers.
Castellanos had a rough start to this season and one can say it was pressure. The last couple years in the minors, Castellanos was dubbed one of the top prospects in the majors and the pressure I felt got to him to succeed right away. Mike Trout’s of the world are one in a few so most rookies will and should take their bumps before that become great and that’s what has happened to Castellanos to far this season.
However, this week at the plate for Castellanos has and should be a start to just maybe a run at rookie of the year and hopefully the Tigers righting the ship and fixing what is wrong with them. With a .579/.600/.842 stat line, Nick Castellanos is the surprise of the week with his play at the plate and showing that he can be the pure hitter he is.
Another week is in the books and were starting to wind down the first half of the season. While Alex Gordon is playing like an MVP candidate like he should be and Troy Tulowitzki is continuing to walk away with the MVP, it’s a great time to be a baseball fan and I have a feeling it’s only going to get better.
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