Third Week News

As the end of the first month of the MLB season draws closer to an end, let’s recap what happened in week 3 of that month.

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Players of the Week:

Once again, many players were worthy of this award but it could only be given to 2 players, and they were both a cut above the rest this week. Starting in the AL, Rays Steven Souza Jr. was looked in throughout the week. Souza knocked a solid 5 extra base hits, and drove in 9. Souza Jr. had a very good week at the dish and will try and keep his hot streak going. Moving over to the NL, someone who’s no stranger to winning awards, Bryce Harper, took home player of the week honors, with a .550 batting average, a .667 on base percentage, and a 1.200 slugging percentage. Harper has had a great start to the 2017 season, and he’ll look to keep this up, trying to return to his 2015 form where he won the NL MVP award.

Starling Marte:

This week Pirates fans received some upsetting news with the suspension of center fielder Starling Marte. Marte has been suspended for 80 games for testing positive for Nandrolone, a performance enhancing drug. Marte, a former all star, was batting .241 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI’s to start the year, but now will be sidelined for the duration of his suspension. In Marte’s absence, Andrew McCutchen will move over to cener field while the Pirates try and find someone to play right field on a daily basis. It’s very sad to see such a talented and young player make a bad decision like this one, and I hope he learns from his mistake.

Rosales Fastest Home Run Trot:

Although not a groundbreaking accomplishment, big news was made this week after A’s infielder Adam Rosales homered against the Mariners, and proceeded to run the bases in a home run trot faster than anyone else had since the stat has been tracked. With a time of 15.9 seconds from contact off the bat, to touching home plate, Rosales broke the record. Rosales had been no strager to speedy home run trots having 10 of the top 11 fastest trots last year. It’s a nice moment for Rosales, but someone might want to tell him to savor the moment next time.

Bean Ball Wars:

Over the corse of the week, not one but 2 teams got into it with bean ball wars. After a slide into second by Manny Machado, during which he spiked Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, the Orioles and Red Sox got into a heated fight, with Pedroia having to be removed from the game. Machado says there was no intent at all and that he was just trying to play the game, but this incident did cause Pedroia to miss a few days. The ordeal ended with Red Sox pitcher Matt Barnes throwing at Machado’s head, and although he missed, he was still handed a 4 game suspension by the league. The other bean ball war this week took place in Minnesota when Tigers outfielder JaCoby Jones was hit in the face with a pitch, causing him to be removed from the game. This sparked Tigers pitcher Matt Boyd to intentionally bean Twins slugger Miguel Sano, eventually leading to a benches clearing brawl on the field. In the aftermath Boyd was fined for his actions, Sano was suspended for one game for “agressive behavior”, and although sore, JaCoby Jones is recovering.

Other Stories:

Throughout the week little bits of news came up about the future of baseball. These include the announcement of a new ballpark in Oakland sometime down the road, and a report that Yankees legend Derek Jeter, along with politician Jeb Bush have put in an offer to buy the Miami Marlins. Marlin’s owner Jeffrey Loria has hinted at wanting to sell the club, and this offer shows how serious Loria is about selling the club, and how Derek Jeter want’s to get back into the game after retiring. More on both stories is to come later.

Injuries:

As with every sport, injuries are a big part of baseball and this week had it’s fair share of them. Starting off in San Francisco, Giants ace Madison Bumgardner suffered some bruised ribs after a motorcycle accident. Bumgardner is ok but he will spend some time on the disabled list. Heading over to Detroit, Tigers sluggy Miguel Cabrera will see some DL time with a groin injury. He will be put on the 10 day DL due to this injury not being too serious. For the final big injury this week we need to head north of the border to Toronto, where Blue Jays shortstop Troy Tulowitzki suffered a strained right hamstring rounding the bases in LA. Tulo will join 3 other Blue Jays on the DL, Aaron Sanchez, Josh Donaldson, and J.A. Happ, while the Blue Jays try to sort out their season after a rough start in April.

That's it for the news in the MLB for this week. The first month is almost over and it’ll be exciting to see whats to come in the future.