José Soriano and James Wood named Players of the Week

Image Credit: Major League Baseball

NEW YORK, NY — All-Star outfielder James Wood of the Washington Nationals has been unanimously selected the National League Player of the Week, and starting pitcher José Soriano of the Los Angeles Angels has been named the American League Player of the Week. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Wood won his first career award, marking the first honor for the Nationals since Eddie Rosario won on May 13, 2024, and the first recognition for a Nationals outfielder since Kyle Schwarber on June 21, 2021. Soriano also earned his first career honor, marking the first award for the Angels since Jo Adell won on September 8^th of last year. Overall, Soriano is the first pitcher to win the award since Ranger Suarez won for the Philadelphia Phillies on August 23^rd of last year, and it marks the first occurrence in the AL since Tarik Skubal’s award for the Detroit Tigers last season on June 28^th. Including Shohei Ohtani’s awards with the Angels, Soriano is the 15^th Angels pitcher to win the award, and the first primary pitcher to earn the nod since Reid Detmers on May 16, 2022, following his no-hitter.

James Wood, Washington Nationals (@jwood.29)

• The 23-year-old hit .545 (12-for-22) with three homers, eight RBI, three doubles, six walks, eight runs scored, two stolen bases, a 1.091 slugging percentage and a .655 on-base percentage in six games.
• The Rockville, Maryland native paced the Majors in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS (1.746) and hits (12); tied for the Major League lead in total bases (24) and runs scored; tied for second in extra-base hits (6); and tied for third in RBI and homers.
• The 2025 All-Star opened his week with four consecutive multi-hit games, capping off the stretch with a four-hit game on Friday at Milwaukee. The contest marked his fifth career game with at least four hits, matching Juan Soto and Trea Turner for the second-most four-hit games prior to turning 24 in Nationals/Expos history. Delino DeShields holds the record, recording seven games of at least four hits prior to his 24^th
• Following his homer on April 5^th, the second-round selection in the 2021 Draft (by SD) homered in back-to-back games to open the week, marking the first time in his career that he homered in three consecutive games. Wood is the ninth Nationals/Expos player under the age of 24 to hit a home run in at least three straight games, and the first since Juan Soto in 2019 (3 G).
• Wood has hit safely in each of his last seven games dating back to April 5^th, batting .500/.618/1.077/1.695 with four homers and 11 RBI. The current streak is tied for the second-longest in his career, trailing a nine-game hitting streak from May 1-10, 2025.

José Soriano, Los Angeles Angels (@soriano_24_rd)

• Across two starts, the 27-year-old went 2-0 with a 0.60 ERA (1 ER/15.0 IP), permitting just five hits with three walks, 20 strikeouts, a 0.53 WHIP, a .102 opponents’ batting average and 12.00 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.
• The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic native leads Major League pitchers this season in ERA (0.33), wins (4) and strikeouts (31); ranks second in opponents batting average (.103); and third in WHIP (0.67) and innings pitched (27.0).
• The right-hander dealt 8.0 innings of one-run ball on Monday against Atlanta, allowing just three hits with a walk and 10 strikeouts. Drake Baldwin homered in the first inning of the contest, snapping Soriano’s streak of 12.0 scoreless innings to begin the season. He followed up with 7.0 scoreless innings on Sunday, permitting two hits with three walks and 10 strikeouts.
• Soriano is the first Angels starter to record at least 10 strikeouts in back-to-back starts since Shohei Ohtani in June 2023. Overall, he is just the eighth Angels pitcher (16^th occurrence) to register two consecutive starts of at least 10 strikeouts and one-or-zero runs allowed. He is just the third Angels pitcher (sixth occurrence), and the first since Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1978, to record back-to-back starts of at least 10 strikeouts, three-or-fewer hits and one-or-zero runs. Ryan turned the trick four times with Los Angeles, while the first to accomplish the feat was Dean Chance in 1964.
• Now in his third season as a starting pitcher, Soriano is off to a perfect 4-0 start, allowing three-or-fewer hits and one-or-zero runs in all four of his starts. He is the first pitcher in American League history to throw at least 6.0 innings in each of his first four games of a season while allowing three-or-fewer hits and one-or-fewer runs. He is the fourth Angels pitcher to open a season with at least four consecutive starts of three-or-fewer hits and one-or-zero runs, regardless of length, joining Ohtani (5 GS in 2023); Taylor Cole (4 GS in 2019); and Cam Bedrosian (7 GS in 2019).

Other noteworthy AL performances last week included first baseman Willson Contreras (.500, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 2 2B, 4 BB, 4 R, .864 SLG, .607 OBP) of the Boston Red Sox; shortstop Gunnar Henderson (.280, 4 HR, 6 RBI, 1 2B, 4 BB, 7 R, 2 SB, .800 SLG) of the Baltimore Orioles; starting pitcher Michael Wacha (2-0, 0.60 ERA, 2 GS, 15.0 IP, 7 H, 4 BB, 10 SO) and relief pitcher Lucas Erceg (0.00 ERA, 3 G, 3 SV, 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 SO) of the Kansas City Royals; outfielder Chandler Simpson (.455, 3 RBI, 1 2B, 5 R, 5 SB) of the Tampa Bay Rays; second baseman Jeff McNeil (.476, 2 RBI, 3 2B, 1 BB, 3 R, .500 OBP) and starting pitcher Aaron Civale (1-0, 0.84 ERA, 2 GS, 10.2 IP, 6 H, 4 BB, 9 SO) of the Athletics; starting pitchers Joe Ryan (2-0, 3.00 ERA, 2 GS, 12.0 IP, 5 H, 4 BB, 12 SO) and Taj Bradley (2-0, 1.59 ERA, 2 GS, 11.1 IP, 11 H, 4 BB, 17 SO) of the Minnesota Twins; and infielder Angel Martínez (.476, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 2 2B, 4 R, 3 SB, .714 SLG) of the Cleveland Guardians.

Other noteworthy NL performances last week included outfielder Jordan Walker (.360, 5 HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB, 6 R, .960 SLG, .407 OBP) and closer Riley O’Brien (0.00 ERA, 3 G, 2 SV, 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 SO) of the St. Louis Cardinals; first baseman Bryce Harper (.526, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 4 2B, 6 BB, 3 R, 1 SB, .895 SLG, .640 OBP) of the Philadelphia Phillies; rookie designated hitter Moisés Ballesteros (.500, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 4 R, .929 SLG, .500 OBP), second baseman Nico Hoerner (.357, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB, 3 R, 1 SB) and catcher Carson Kelly (.400, 1 RBI, 3 2B, 4 BB, 1 R, .600 SLG, .526 OBP) of the Chicago Cubs; two-way star Shohei Ohtani (.304, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 6 BB, 4 R, .696 SLG, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 SO) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; shortstop Elly De La Cruz (.333, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 2B, 5 BB, 7 R, 4 SB, .667 SLG) of the Cincinnati Reds; and shortstop Willy Adames (.375, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 7 2B, 2 BB, 5 R, .792 SLG) of the San Francisco Giants.

Information Courtesy of Major League Baseball

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