Austin Riley and Freddie Freeman lead Ben Verlander’s MLB team of the week

Ben Verlander

FOX Sports MLB Analyst

Teams across MLB are settled in following the All-Star break. 

With a full week in the books, it’s time for me to resume my team of team column! The first full week following the All-Star break featured some big performances from All-Stars. It also had some strong weeks from stars in years past who have struggled to find their footing recently, until now.

Let’s take a look and see who made my team of the week!

Atlanta Braves’ Austin Riley & Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman headline the Team of the Week

Catcher: Keibert Ruiz, Washington Nationals — .500 batting average, two home runs, six RBIs, 1.533 OPS

It’s not often you see a Nationals player make my team of the week this season. 

Ruiz had a strong case, though, recording a hit in half of his at-bats to help the last-place Nationals go 3-3 in the games he played last week, which included two wins over the Giants. 

First base: Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers — .500 batting average, three home runs, seven RBIs, 1.683 OPS

Freeman had an incredible week — tacking it on to an incredible season.

I watched a lot of Freeman this past week, especially over the weekend as the Dodgers were taking on the Rangers in a highly anticipated series. Freeman was locked in at Texas, as were many of his teammates, to help the Dodgers win two of three. But Freeman was especially great, hitting three homers over the weekend with a two-homer game on Saturday.

Freddie Freeman blasts his second home run of the game to help the Dodgers increase the lead over the Rangers

Second base: Edouard Julien, Minnesota Twins — .500 batting average, two home runs, two RBIs, 1.365 OPS

I love this guy! And I’ve loved him since the World Baseball Classic, where he shined all of his tools for Canada in the tournament. 

After seeing him there, I thought he could be a very good big leaguer. Julien got his MLB career off to a hot start, recording a home run in his second career game. This week was arguably his best yet as his batting average for the year has risen to .307.

As a sidenote, it’s pretty crazy that we have three guys who hit .500 on the week to open things up!

Third base: Austin Riley, Atlanta Braves — .417 batting average, six home runs, 16 RBIs, 1.732 OPS

Riley didn’t hit .500, but he more than made up for it with power.

Riley hit a home run in almost every game this past week. He had a two-homer game in that non-stop scoring game against the Diamondbacks last Tuesday. 

Austin Riley smokes a three-run home run as the Braves grab the lead over the Brewers

Shortstop: Matt McLain, Cincinnati Reds — .409 batting average, three home runs, six RBIs, 1.344 OPS

I was thinking about something this week: if Matt McLain came up this year on the New York Yankees, took over their shortstop spot and put up the numbers he’s had, could you imagine the hype that would surround him? 

Everyone would be saying that the future for the Yankees is here. Some would even say that he’s a budding superstar.

Because he’s on the Cincinnati Reds, though, McLain isn’t getting the love he deserves. He should’ve been an All-Star and if he were on another team he’d be one! It’s bullcrap that he wasn’t. 

The Reds are the real deal, and so is Matt McLain.

Outfield: Chas McCormick, Houston Astros — .400 batting average, three home runs, six RBIs, 1.370 OPS

Chas McCormick isn’t someone you’d expect the Astros to get a ton of offense from. But he, along with another player soon to be unveiled on my team of the week, helped Houston’s offense get through the week and win four games.

Outfield: Cody Bellinger, Chicago Cubs — .429 batting average, one home run, six RBIs, 1.055 OPS

Is Belli back? I think Belli might be back. 

It’s not just this week. It’s been a month of him just going haywire. He’s hitting .452 in July to go along with a 1.270 OPS plus seven homers. 

Bellinger is certainly someone to keep an eye on this next week as he could be one of the biggest names moved ahead of the trade deadline. In fact, he might be the biggest bat on the market if the Cubs opt to be sellers.

Outfield: Kyle Tucker, Houston Astros — .458 batting average, four home runs, eight RBIs, 1.625 OPS

I declared Tucker the most underrated player in baseball on Monday’s “Flippin’ Bats” after he had another great week. Three of his four homers came in Friday’s game against the Athletics.

In a lineup with so many familiar faces to baseball fans, Tucker is clearly one of the best in the Astros’ order yet doesn’t get the proper recognition. He’s hitting .302 with a .893 OPS to go along with 17 homers and 68 RBIs this season. He’s in the top 10 in the American League in all of those stats except for home runs, where he’s tied for 11th. 

Designated hitter: Yasmani Grandal, Chicago White Sox — .350 batting average, two home runs, eight RBIs, 1.158 OPS

Grandal has struggled this season, and it’s been a while since you would’ve seen him on a list like this. He kind of fell off offensively for his career over the last couple of seasons. 

Hopefully, for him, this is a sign of some sort of turnaround. The White Sox need offense from someone other than Luis Robert.

Starting pitcher: Corbin Burnes, Milwaukee Brewers — 1-0, 10 strikeouts, .077 batting average against, 0.00 ERA

A great week for the Brewers ace. The 2021 Cy Young winner was struggling a bit, at least by his standards, earlier this year after he pitched more like a good pitcher rather than an elite one. 

But Burnes was essentially unhittable in his lone start this past week, which came against a deep Phillies lineup. He’s also allowed just eight hits over 27 innings pitched in four starts this month. 

Relief pitcher: Jhoan Duran, Minnesota Twins — Three saves, five strikeouts, three innings pitched, zero earned runs, zero walks, four hits 

This guy is such a stud. If you’ve never watched Duran pitch, he throws up to 104 mph and has a splitter that’s almost 100 mph. His slider is great, too. 

In the first “Flippin’ Bats” of the 2022 season, Carlos Correa brought up Duran unprompted during our interview, saying to get ready to learn more about him and called the reliever the real deal.  

Player of the week: Austin Riley

Riley led everyone this week in homers and RBIs. 

When Riley gets hot, he turns into the kind of hitter who is in the conversation to be the best in baseball. Obviously, there can be consistency issues and he isn’t foolproof from going through struggles. The better hitters, like Riley, are less susceptible to cold streaks though. It also just felt like every time he stepped up to the plate he was going to hit a home run. 

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