It's time for our weekly look at the Indians' top players of the last seven days, in which one man is chosen as better than the rest. Be sure to vote for you choice in the poll included at the bottom.
Previous winners:
The Candidates
One of the team's best goes for his first win, while others try to add another victory to their collection...
Michael Brantley
Brantley hit .419/.455/.645 last week. He had at least 1 hit in all seven games, and had multiple hits 5 times (bringing his season total to 193). He stole his 22nd base and hit his 21st home run. It was another in a long line of great weeks he's had this season, as he's been one of the two or three best offensive players in baseball, someone who'd merit series MVP consideration if not for Mike Trout.
Carlos Carrasco
Carrasco pitched the best game of his career on Wednesday, allowing only three base runners while pitching a shutout on just 98 pitches, giving him the 8th Maddux in franchise history. (You can find every team's Maddux count here.) Not only that, but he struck out 12 batters, which gives him a share of the record for most strikeouts ever in a Maddux.
Yan Gomes
Gomes has gotten very little mention in the PotW posts each week, leading to a lot of discussion about him in the comments. Last week he hit .269/.259/.577, with 2 home runs and a team-best 9 RBI. In Tuesday's 4-2 win he hit a two-run homer and in Saturday's 7-3 win he homered again, one of his 3 hits on the day. His WPA (Win Probability Added) for the week was 0.40, easily the highest of any position player on the team.
Corey Kluber
Kluber struck out a career high 14 batters on Tuesday, while also allowing only 1 run in 7 innings. It was the highest strikeout total by any Indians pitcher since Bartolo Colon also struck out 14 way back in 1998. Then on Sunday, Kluber struck out 14 again, this time while allowing 2 runs in 8 innings. He became only the 9th pitcher ever to have 14+ strikeouts in back-to-back starts.
The Winner
I thought for sure I was giving this honor to Carrasco, because his Maddux wasn't just the best game of his career, it was arguably the best game by any pitcher in the American League all season. Much as it pains me to side against someone who pitched a Maddux though, I have to. Corey Kluber's week was too impressive to overlook. Any time you're joining a club whose only other members are Sam McDowell, Bob Gibson, Mickey Lolich, Dwight Gooden, Jose Rijo, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez, you've done something notable.
Congratulations (yet again) to the Klubot, AKA: Cy(borg) Young.
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