For the second week in a row, a young Oriole has taken home AL Player of the Week honors. This time, it is one of the most underrated players in baseball, infielder Jordan Westburg.
If you know anything about Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg, mainly the bromance they have going on, then you know how fitting it is for these two to be named in back-to-back weeks.
So far this year, Westburg has played in all but a single game. Immediately, he reminded everyone why he was so highly touted in the minors for so long, even not being someone as highly-touted as Adley Rutschman or Gunnar Henderson.
However, what Westburg did this past week is video-game-like. He netted 11 hits in the past six games, five being for extra bases, while driving in eight runs. Two of the five extra-base hits in that time were home runs.
Speaking of going back-to-back with Cowser, that happened more than just with this honor. On Sunday against the Royals in Kansas City, the corny combo each launched monsters of home runs in back-to-back at-bats.
Offensively, Westburg has not only hit everything, but he is hitting it hard. He has been consistently atop the AL or within the top three in hard hit percentage, barrel rate, win probability added and is currently leading all hitters in the majors in terms of average in two-strike counts.
Amazingly, if you look at bWAR (Baseball Reference’s measurement for Wins Above Replacement), you’ll see Mr. Westburg at No. 9, currently at 1.3. Mixed in that group are names like Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Bobby Witt Jr. and Juan Soto, just to name a few.
For reference, Westburg has played a total of 88 games in the major leagues. Last year, in 68 games, he totaled 1.3 bWAR. It has only taken 20 games to reach that mark this year for the Mississippi State product.
The best part about watching Westburg with this honor is that he did it with production that isn’t surprising to Orioles fans. Yes, five extra-base hits with two homers in six games is great for anyone, but for what we had come to expect for Westburg in the minors and his time in the bigs last season, is this.
Get used to this. It’s not going to stop anytime soon.
After his amazing week, Westburg sits at a pretty .333 average and a 1.031 OPS on the young season.
Congratulations to Jordan Westburg for earning AL Player of the Week. We can’t wait to see many more in No. 11’s future.
What are your thoughts on Westburg’s impressive week? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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