Monsters Shohei Ohtani (29-LA Angels) and Ronald Acuña Jr. (26-Atlanta Braves), both strong MVP candidates in their respective leagues, swept the American League (AL) and National League (NL) Player of the Month and Player of the Week awards.
The Major League Baseball (MLB) Office of the Commissioner announced the winners of the AL and NL Players of the Month and Players of the Week on Thursday. Ohtani was named the AL Player of the Month for June, the third time in his career that he has been honored after winning back-to-back awards in June and July 2021. It is the most by a Japanese major leaguer (three).스포츠토토
Ohtani played in 27 games at the plate in June, batting .394 (41-for-104) with 15 home runs, 29 RBI, 27 runs scored, four doubles, and a 1.444 OPS. His batting performance alone was enough to earn him Player of the Month honors. On the mound, he started five games and pitched 30⅓ innings, going 2-2 with a 3.26 ERA and 37 strikeouts.
Ohtani also earned her second Player of the Week honor in June and sixth of her career. After batting .417 (10-for-42) with six home runs, seven doubles, nine RBIs, one stolen base and a 1.783 OPS on the week, Ohtani was named AL Player of the Week alongside Domingo Hermann (New York Yankees), who pitched a perfect game against the Oakland Athletics on June 29.
Ronald Acuña Jr. already has 20 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the first half.
In the NL, Acuña Jr. dominated the Player of the Month and Player of the Week awards. In 25 games in June, he batted .356 (104-for-37) with nine home runs, 22 RBIs, 26 runs scored, 14 doubles, and a 1.112 OPS. On a weekly basis, he batted .474 (19-for-9) with five home runs, seven RBIs, nine runs scored, four doubles, and a 1.916 OPS.
Ohtani and Acuña Jr. are already among the top two MVP candidates in their respective leagues before the first half is even over. Ohtani is batting .306 with 31 home runs, 68 RBI, 61 runs scored, 11 doubles, and a 1.060 OPS in 89 games this season. While he leads the major leagues in home runs, slugging percentage (0.670), and OPS, Ohtani has also been outstanding as a pitcher, going 7-3 with a 3.02 ERA. After surpassing the 30-homer plateau in the first half of the year, Ohtani is on pace for a 60-homer season and his first career home run title.
In 84 games, Acuña Jr. is batting .335 with 21 home runs, 54 RBI, 77 runs scored, 40 doubles and a 1.012 OPS to lead Atlanta to a first-place finish in the NL. After becoming the first player to reach the 20-homer, 35-steal mark before the All-Star break, Acuña Jr. is on pace to become MLB’s first 30-homer, 60-steal player.