Major League Baseball announced Los Angeles Dodgers’ superstar Shohei Ohtani was named the National League Player of the Week for June 17-23.
Ohtani earned his ninth career Player of the Week Award and his second of the season after winning his first NL honor on May 6.
Previously, he won seven times as a member of the Los Angeles Angels with three honors in his 2023 American League MVP season (7/30, 7/3 and 6/20); two honors in his 2021 AL MVP season (7/6 and 6/21); and two honors during his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2018 (9/10 and 4/9).
The award marks the third for the Dodgers this season after Ohtani’s previous win and Teoscar Hernández’s win on June 10th.
Ohtani hit .458/.567/1.083 in six games last week, going 11-for-24 with three doubles, four homers, 11 RBI, eight runs scored, a stolen base and six walks.
The 29-year-old led the Majors in RBI, slugging, on-base plus slugging (1.650), extra-base hits (7) and total bases (26), tied for the Major League lead in homers, ranked second in OBP, tied for second in walks, tied for fourth in runs scored, and tied for fifth in batting average.
The two-time unanimous AL MVP finished his week with home runs in three straight games and in four of his last five games during the stretch. It is the eighth time in his career that he has homered in three straight games and his second such streak of this season.
He hit a 476-foot home run on Tuesday night in Colorado, marking the longest home run in the Majors this season.
The Japanese native has hit safely in each of his last seven games and in 20 of his 24 games so far this month, reaching base safely in 22 of the contests. Along with his seven-game hitting streak, Ohtani has also recorded an RBI and a run scored in each of those seven games, marking the longest streak in his career with at least one hit, one RBI and one run scored.
The three-time All-Star recorded three straight multi-hit games at Colorado to begin his week, picking up three hits on Monday and two hits each on Tuesday and Wednesday. Overall, Ohtani’s 30 multi-hit games are third-most in the Majors this season, while his eight games with at least three hits are tied for fourth.
Dave Roberts praised Shohei Ohtani
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts believes Ohtani’s recent level of play is unmatched, and when his designated is locked in at the plate, there’s no one better in MLB.
Ohtani also tied an L.A. Dodgers’ franchise record with seven consecutive games of at least one run scored and one RBI. It last had been accomplished by Reggie Smith in 1978.
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