O'Neill named American League Player of the Week
Boston Red Sox slugger Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, B.C.) has been named American League Player of the Week. Photo: MLB/Twitter
July 29, 2024
Official Major League Baseball News Release
On the heels of the second no-hitter in franchise history, San Diego Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease has been selected the National League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet, and Boston Red Sox outfielder Tyler O’Neill has been named the American League Player of the Week presented by Chevrolet.
The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.
Cease earned his first career Player of the Week award and is the second pitcher to win the award this season after Houston Astros starting pitcher Ronel Blanco won on April 6, following his no-hitter. Cease is the first Padre to win the award since his teammate Luis Arraez won on May 28 and is the first San Diego pitcher to win the award since rotation-mate Yu Darvish on September 19, 2022.
O’Neill claimed his second career honour after previously winning on September 20, 2021 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. He is the first Red Sox player to win since his teammate Rafael Devers won last year on September 18. Overall, Boston’s 144 all-time weekly awards are the most of any club, breaking a tie with the New York Yankees, who have 143.
Dylan Cease, San Diego Padres (@dylancease7)
-The 28-year-old threw the second no-hitter in Padres’ history on Thursday at Washington, permitting three walks with nine strikeouts. After waiting out an hour and sixteen-minute rain delay in the top of the first inning, Cease permitted a leadoff walk to Lane Thomas in the bottom of the first inning before setting down eight straight batters. The right-hander issued another walk to Thomas in the fourth inning and a walk to CJ Abrams in the seventh inning, marking Washington’s only three baserunners in the game. He finished the magnificent start by retiring the contest’s final nine batters in order.
-The Georgia native led the Majors in opponents’ average (.000) and WHIP (0.33); and tied for the Major League lead in ERA (0.00). He was one of two pitchers in Baseball to throw a shutout last week, joined by rookie starter Tyler Phillips of the Philadelphia Phillies.
-Cease joins his current teammate Joe Musgrove as the only pitchers in Padres’ history to throw a no-hitter, after Musgrove tossed the first no-hitter in San Diego history on April 9, 2021 at Texas. Previously, Cease’s longest no-hit bid was 8 2/3 innings on September 3, 2022, when now-teammate Luis Arraez broke up the no-hitter with a two-out single in the ninth inning.
-The 2022 AL Cy Young runner-up with the Chicago White Sox improved to 10-8 on the year and has won each of his last three starts since July 13th, going 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA over 22 innings of work, allowing just two hits with seven walks, 30 strikeouts, a 0.41 WHIP and a .031 opponents’ average. During the stretch, he leads the Majors in strikeouts, innings pitched, opponents’ average and WHIP; and is tied for the Major League lead in wins and ERA.
-The sixth round selection in the 2014 MLB Draft has thrown at least 6.0 innings and allowed one-or-fewer hits in six of his 22 starts this season, setting a new Major League record for a single season. Cease is one of 10 pitchers who were tied for the record of four starts of at least 6.0 innings and one-or-fewer hits, with 2023 NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell being the last to accomplish the feat. Cease accomplished the feat in 2022.
Tyler O'Neill, Boston Red Sox (@toneill9)
-The 29-year-old hit .429 (9-for-21) with four homers, eight RBIs, three doubles, a walk, five runs scored, a 1.143 slugging percentage and a .435 on-base percentage in five games last week.
-The Canada native tied for the Major League lead in extra-base hits (7); led the AL in slugging and total bases (24); tied for the AL lead in homers and RBIs; and ranked third in OPS (1.578).
-The third round selection in the 2013 MLB Draft hit multiple homers on Tuesday at Colorado and Saturday against the Yankees, marking the ninth and 10th multi-homer games of his career. Overall, his five multi-homer games are the most in the Majors this season and are the most by a Red Sox hitter since J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts each recorded five multi-homer games in 2019.
-Per Elias, along with his two-homer game on July 20 at Los Angeles (NL), he became the first player in Red Sox history to record three multi-home run games in a span of six-or-fewer games. He became the first Red Sox hitter since Trevor Story in 2022 to hit at least four home runs across a three-game stretch.
-The two-time Rawlings Gold Glover had multiple hits in four of his five games last week, including three-hit performances on Monday at Colorado and Saturday against New York (AL). On Saturday, he drove home four runs, marking his sixth career game with at least four RBIs. He drove home a career-high five RBIs on April 7, 2022 against Pittsburgh.