Even with October out of reach, Carter Jensen and Rafael Devers are still leaving a mark in September - and the latest Player of the Week Awards reflect just how loud their bats have been.
Jensen earned his first American League Player of the Week honor after a blistering stretch for Kansas City. The Royals rookie went 8-for-19, good for a .421 average, and piled up three doubles, a triple and three home runs in five games behind the plate. He also scored six runs and drove in six.
The award is a notable one for Kansas City as well. Jensen is the first Royals player to win AL Player of the Week since Bobby Witt Jr. on May 11, and the first Kansas City rookie to do it since Vinnie Pasquantino on Aug.
15, 2022. Jensen has now gone deep 22 times in his rookie season.
Devers, meanwhile, kept powering San Francisco through a big week of his own. The Giants star finished 10-for-26 with a .385 average, two doubles, six homers and 13 RBIs across seven games, and he homered in five of those contests. Since the Midsummer Classic, the three-time All-Star has been on a roll, putting up a .993 OPS with 16 homers and 40 RBIs in 49 games.
This marks the fifth Player of the Week Award of Devers’ career. He won the AL version three times with the Red Sox in 2019, ’23 and ’25, and last Sept. 2 he picked up his first NL POTW Award after arriving in San Francisco.
The week’s top play could end up standing as the best catch of the year. On Aug. 31 at Coors Field, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and Baltimore protecting a 2-1 lead over Colorado, center fielder Colton Cowser climbed the wall and made a leaping grab to steal a walk-off two-run homer from Jake McCarthy.
In Other News...
Royals Still Have One Unsettled Infield Spot After Latest Veteran Move
The Royals made another infield adjustment this week by releasing Brandon Drury, a veteran with a decade of big league experience and a Silver Slugger on his rsum. Drury had signed a minor league deal with Kansas City over the offseason, but his time in the organization never really gained traction after a rough offensive stretch in Triple-A.
Brandon Drurys departure also leaves the Royals still sorting out one of the remaining spots on the infield depth chart, which has become a quiet but important subplot around the club. Kansas City has already been looking for stability on the dirt, and moving on from a player with Drurys track record suggests the competition for that role is still very much open. [Read more 🡒]
Jac Caglianone Injury Renews A Royals Fear They Can't Ignore
Jac Caglianones latest scare came in a game on Sept. 5, when he suffered a Grade 1 left flexor strain in his elbow, an injury the Royals do not expect will force him onto the injured list. Manager Matt Quatraro said the issue is low grade, which gives Kansas City some room to take a more aggressive recovery approach and avoid losing the young slugger for an extended stretch.
Even with that encouraging diagnosis, the bigger concern around Caglianone is no longer just the immediate timetable. Each new injury flares up the same uneasy question for the Royals about how durable he can be over the long run, and how much uncertainty they can afford around a player they hope can become a central part of the lineup. [Read more 🡒]
Diamondbacks Survived A Wild Road Finish Fans Will Be Talking About
Corbin Burnes is set to make his return to the majors tonight against the Royals, giving Kansas City a familiar kind of challenge in the middle of a season full of moving parts. It will be Burnes first appearance since June 2025, and for a Royals lineup that has had to work its way through plenty of pitching matchups already, the timing adds another layer to an already important stretch.
Around the rest of the league, the day brought a few notable returns and standout outings, including Aaron Judge being activated from the 60-day injured list and expected back for the Yankees against the Rockies after a rib injury. The Phillies also got a huge lift from Jesus Luzardo, who tossed a complete-game shutout with 12 strikeouts to help them split their series with the Braves, a reminder that the nightly rhythm of the race keeps shifting just as Kansas City prepares for Burnes. [Read more 🡒]