Mariners’ Jorge Polanco follows Dylan Moore as AL Player of the Week
Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez are now joined in Mariners history by Dylan Moore and Jorge Polanco.
Polanco was named American League Player of the Week on Monday, seven days after Moore earned the award.
Together, it’s the first time Mariners players have been honored with the AL Player of the Week award in consecutive weeks since June 27 and July 4, 1998, when Rodriguez and Griffey were recognized in back-to-back weeks.
The first player of the week award in Polanco’s career came after he hit .471 with four home runs, two doubles, eight RBI and two walks in five games played. Polanco recorded 22 total bases and had a 1.844 OPS for the week.
Limited to just duties as the designated hitter and hitting only from the left side, Polanco is hitting .377 with a .739 slugging percentage in 20 games. Polanco leads all of baseball in slugging percentage among hitters with at least 75 plate appearance, ahead of second-place Aaron Judge. Polanco’s 1.145 OPS ranks second in baseball behind Judge.
Last year, Polanco was hitting just .174 with a .304 slugging percentage and .634 OPS through his first 20 games. Polanco had 21 total bases in the first 20 games of last season; he had 22 total bases just last week.
Lawrence on the move
The saga of relief pitcher Casey Lawrence took another turn on Monday when the veteran was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays, bringing to a close this chapter with the Mariners.
Lawrence was designated for assignment Saturday after he was called upon to pitch five innings of relief when Logan Gilbert was pulled following just three innings of work Friday night.
Lawrence recently spoke about the yo-yo between the minors and majors that included a handful of cross-country road trips.
