The grass is green, Game of Thrones is awesome, Warren Buffet is still rich, and in other completely unsurprising and totally expected news …
Willson Contreras is the National League Player of the Week!
.@Cubs catcher @WContreras40 (.455, 5 HR) stays hot to win NL Player of the Week award; @Orioles SS @t_beckham1 (.583, 3 HR) wins AL honors. pic.twitter.com/Y55KNWWKwU
— MLB (@MLB) August 7, 2017
Brett already gave him some love earlier today, noting that his recent homer binge set an All-Time (I don’t think that needed to be capitalized, but it definitely makes it seem more important) record for Venezuelan players, of which there are obviously some notable and historic sluggers.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t pile it on and point out how well he did this past week.
From July 31st until August 6, Contreras slashed .455/.478/1.182 (yeah, his slugging percentage alone would be a fantastic OPS) with a double and five home runs. That means he had a laughable .727 ISO, a .666 wOBA, and a 321 wRC+. All of which are even more ridiculous than your wildest “video game numbers.”
Even Contreras seems shocked.
The only game he didn’t get a hit in this week was one in which he appeared as a pinch-hitter and took just one plate appearance. Which means, as the Cubs so shrewdly pointed out on Twitter, he’s now reached base safely in 20 straight starts.
To say it’s been a good second-half of the season is under-selling it:
Follow-up: Willson Contreras' 3.2 WAR so far this season is 27th best in MLB … tied with Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo.
— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) August 7, 2017
I wish there were more ways to describe just how awesome he’s been, but I think this award sums it up nicely. In short: no one in the National League was better than Willson Contreras least a week.
Nicely done, my man.