Shohei Ohtani

I think I've been taking Shohei Ohtani for granted. He is literally in contention to be my MLBoyfriend almost every week. Then, I'm all like "Shohei will have plenty of other chances--let's give it to someone else this week". Suddenly, it's been three years since he's won the title, and you also realize, that even though he's been mentioned a few other times, he's only ever won the title twice.

It seems almost unjust that a player about whom there has been much serious discussion about whether or not he is the GOAT has gotten so little attention on this blog. It's even worse because Shohei is so cute.

And he wears 17--which is my favorite prime number.

That ends today. Shohei's weekly stats are almost always great, but last week, they were amazing. He went 11 for 24 at the plate giving him a .458 average. He had a monster 1.650 OPS with 3 doubles and 4 home runs. Along the way, he scored 8 runs and batted in 11 runs. 

Shohei ended the week especially strong. In the two-game series against his former team, he dominated at the plate. Let's take a look.

Congratulations, Shohei Ohtani! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Carlos Correa

Before I get to this week's winner, Carlos Correa, I have to give a shout-out to the runner-up, Correa's teammate, Austin Martin. I was at the Twins game on Sunday, June 16, and Martin made the best catch I have ever seen in person.

It is officially the MLB Play Of The Week. Martin had a pretty solid game at the plate too. He went 2-for-4 with an RBI double. If it were MLBoyfriend of the day, Martin probably would have taken it. However, it's MLBoyfriend of the week, and Correa definitely deserves that honor. MLB agrees with me again, because it named him the AL Player Of The Week.

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The batting average in that graphic is not a typo. Correa had 17 hits in 31 at-bats last week for an incredible .548 average. That's bananas.

It's also worth noting that Correa looks really good in Minnesota's cool "Ripple Effect" City Connect uniforms that were debuted this week.

Congratulations, Carlos Correa! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Heliot Ramos

If you just joined the MLBoyfriend community last week, and then you saw this week's winner, you might think that I have a type. I don't really. However... I can't say that Heliot Ramos is not my type. After all, he does look very good running the bases...

...And Ramos spent a lot of time running the bases last week. He had 9 hits in 21 at bats for an amazing .429 batting average with an even more amazing 1.476 OPS. He had 2 doubles, 3 home runs, 4 runs and 7 RBI.

Now that voting for the All-Star Game has begun, there is a strong case for Ramos making the National League team.

Congratulations, Heliot Ramos! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Miguel Andújar

Oakland A's players and fans have been having a pretty rough year. (Long story, short: the Athletics' ownership sucks.) I like to throw them some love whenever possible. That said, Miguel Andújar made it easy for me to pick an Oakland player this week.

Andújar had a .400 batting average and 1.105 OPS last week. He had six runs, 2 doubles, 2 home runs and a whopping 10 RBI. He really did his numbers for the week a big favor on Saturday, June 1st, when he went 4-for-5 at the plate with 1 home run, 4 RBI, and 3 runs scored.

As if the numbers weren't enough, Andújar has a couple other things going for him in my book:

1.  The Face 
   
   
   
2. Bubblegum
   

Congratulations, Miguel Andújar! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Bobby Witt Jr.

I had a brief moment of panic today when I realized Bobby Witt Jr, the player I'd chosen to be my MLBoyfriend, would be facing off against my Minnesota Twins today. Fortunately, he didn't do any damage--he did get 2 hits, but no runs or RBIs. So, I didn't have to snatch his crown away before he even got a chance to wear it.

Witt's stats from last week are very, very good. He had a .385 average and 1.356 OPS with 2 doubles, 4 home runs, 6 runs and 11 RBI.

If all that weren't enough to win my attention, Witt adorably sticks out his tongue while playing shortstop (which he is also very good at).

Congratulations, Bobby Witt Jr! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Paul Skenes

Rookie Paul Skenes had his second start as a pitcher in the majors on Friday, May 17th. It was a doozy.

Skenes went 6 full innings striking out 11 batters while giving up only 1 walk, 0 hits, 0 earned runs. He earned a win for his efforts. 

Even if you don't watch the whole video, I posted--check out a few minutes. It's incredible that Skenes is throwing these nasty pitches--very often over 100 miles per hour--and makes it look so effortless. I've said before that one of the problems with selecting pitchers for this blog is that they often don't look so great when they are actually pitching. Their faces scrunch up and their bodies get into weird contortions. No so with Skenes. There so many pictures to choose from of him looking really good on the mound.

Speaking of how Skenes looks... Maybe it's the mustache, but he doesn't look like a rookie player in 2024. I'm not saying he looks older than his 21 years--he just looks like a 21 year-old from another era.

Congratulations, Paul Skenes! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Eddie Rosario

Oh, hey there Eddie Rosario. It's been a minute.

Here's a little look behind the scenes here at MLBoyfriend. I always make my pick first thing in the morning. However, I don't get around to actually writing the blog post until the evening. The MLB usually announces it's Players Of The Week after I've made my choice, but before I post. A few times this year, including this week, I have chosen one of the Players Of The Week. It's a little annoying because it makes it look like I'm just following the pack. On the other hand, it's nice because it saves me the trouble of having to type out the stats.

Congratulations, Eddie Rosario! You are the National League Player Of The Week and, more importantly, my MLBoyfriend.