Carlos Gomez, Andrew Bailey and Mike Napoli MLB Players of the Week

Press Release Major League Baseball

Center fielder Carlos Gomez of the Milwaukee Brewers has been named National League Player of the Week for the period ending April 21st. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.

In six games last week, Gomez led the National League in hitting with a .500 (9-for-18) batting average and ranked first among all Major Leaguers with a .944 slugging percentage. The 27-year-old also ranked among league leaders with nine hits (T-3rd), 17 total bases (T-3rd) and a .526 on-base percentage (T-4th). The speedster clubbed two homers with three RBI and five runs scored to help the Brewers to a 6-0 record on the week, running their current winning streak to seven games. Gomez, a veteran of six Major League seasons with the Mets, Twins and Brewers, notched his 500th career hit in Sunday’s 4-2 victory over the Cubs with a third-inning single off Cubs starter Scott Feldman.

On Wednesday, April 17th, the Dominican-born slugger’s 3-for-4 effort helped the Brewers edge the Giants, 4-3, at Miller Park. The performance included his first triple of the season, an RBI knock of the “slash” variety, in which Gomez showed bunt before pulling the bat back and clubbing a line drive that one-hopped the right field wall, giving the Brewers a 2-0 lead. It was the third consecutive three-hit game (April 14th-17th) for Gomez, and it marked the first such streak by a Brewers batter since Casey McGehee’s span of three-hit outings from September 22-24, 2010.

On Tuesday, Gomez hit his first homer of the season and went 3-for-4 in a 10-8 victory over the defending World Series Champions. Gomez’s batting average now sits at .300 for the season after hitting just .214 prior to this week.

This is his third career Player of the Week citation, having won most recently for the week of July 23-29, 2012, when he hit .346 with four homers and 10 RBI. Gomez also garnered A.L. Player of the Week honors for the week of September 8-14, 2008 as a member of the Minnesota Twins.

Other noteworthy performances included Gomez’s Milwaukee teammates Jean Segura (.292, 5 R, 4 SB) and Ryan Braun (3 HR, 8 RBI); Carlos Beltran (.375, 9 H, 3 HR, .792 SLG), Yadier Molina (.450, 9 H, 4 RBI, .476 OBP) and Lance Lynn (2-0, 3.00 ERA, 12.0 IP, 12 SO) of the St. Louis Cardinals; Cincinnati’s Shin-Soo Choo (.450, 9 H, .700 SLG, .607 OBP), Homer Bailey (0-0, 1.29 ERA, 14.0 IP, 18 SO) and Mat Latos (0-0, 1.29 ERA, 7.0 IP, 10 SO); Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez (.417, 10 H, HR, 6 RBI, .750 SLG); and Pittsburgh’s Russell Martin (.450, 9 H, 5 R, .560 OBP) and A.J. Burnett (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 7.0 IP, 8 SO).

In recognition of his National League Player of the Week Award, Carlos Gomez will be awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time, the leader in licensed sports watches, available at MLB.com.

Right-handed pitcher Andrew Bailey and first baseman Mike Napoli of the Boston Red Sox have been named the American League Co-Players of the Week for the period ending April 21st. This marks just the third time a pair of Red Sox have shared a weekly honor, joining Mike Lowell and David Ortiz (week ending August 26, 2007) along with Pedro Martinez and Trot Nixon (week ending July 7, 2002). The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.

Bailey and Napoli helped lead the Red Sox to a 5-2 record during an emotional week in Boston.

Bailey went 1-0 with three saves, one walk and eight strikeouts over 5.0 innings pitched in five appearances to claim his first Player of the Week Award. Among Major League leaders, the 2009 A.L. Rookie of the Year tied for first in appearances and saves.

Napoli, also a first-time winner, batted .345 (10-for-29) with five doubles, a triple, a home run and 10 RBI over seven games. In addition to leading the Majors in RBI, Mike finished tied for first overall in doubles, tied for second in total bases and was tied for third in hits. Napoli delivered some late-inning magic on Monday to help the Sox edge the visiting Tampa Bay Rays, 3-2, at Fenway Park. With the game tied at 2-2 in the home half of the ninth, Napoli doubled off the Green Monster to score Dustin Pedroia and claim Boston’s second walk-off win in three days. Napoli’s third career game-winning hit gave Bailey his first win of the season.

On Tuesday in Cleveland, Napoli roped a pair of doubles with three RBI to lead the Red Sox to a 7-2 win over the Indians at Progressive Field. The Florida native broke the game open in the second with a bases-clearing double, his second two-bagger of the inning, to give Boston a seven-run cushion.

On Wednesday, Napoli went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI as the Red Sox defeated Cleveland, 6-3. The 31-year-old Napoli rolled a two-run single in the first for the early advantage with Bailey later tossing a perfect ninth frame with a pair of strikeouts en route to his first save of the season In the final game of the series on Thursday, Napoli enjoyed his third two-hit performance in as many days as the Red Sox swept the Indians with a 6-3 win.

Napoli, in his eighth Major League season and his first with Boston, finished the game 2-for-5 with a triple, an RBI and two runs scored. Bailey, a veteran of five seasons, needed just 13 pitches to close out the victory for his second save. The 28-year-old New Jersey native notched his third consecutive save on Saturday to finish a 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals at Fenway Park. In the second game of a doubleheader against the Royals on Sunday, Napoli collected a season-best three hits in five at-bats, in a 5-4, 10-inning loss to the Royals. Napoli doubled, homered and drove in two in the contest, while Bailey hurled a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts to send the game into extras.

Other noteworthy performances included Kansas City’s Lorenzo Cain (.556, 3 2B, 1 HR) and Greg Holland (3 SV, 8 SO in nine opponent at-bats), and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim outfielder Mike Trout (.391, 3 2B, 1 HR, 9 RBI).

The co-winners of the American League Player of the Week, Andrew Bailey and Mike Napoli, will each be awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time, the leader in licensed sports watches, available at MLB.com.