Mariners’ Josh Naylor was snubbed for AL Player of the Week

The Seattle Mariners had a strong case to win an American League Player of the Week award for the fifth time this season. Instead, Josh Naylor was snubbed.

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The AL honors for the week of Aug. 4-10 instead went to Minnesota Twins rookie Luke Keaschall. Did he deserve it over Naylor? Let’s take a look at the numbers.

In six games over the week, Keaschall hit .455 (10 for 22) with two home runs, three doubles, two runs and 10 RBIs.

Naylor, meanwhile, hit .500 (7 for 14) with three homers, two doubles, seven runs, five RBIs and five stolen bases in five games.

Nayl'd it into the seats. #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/MmmXCIV6kJ

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) August 10, 2025

Sure, they both had really good weeks. And Naylor did miss one game and most of another last week due to shoulder soreness, which is probably what hurt him the most in the award voting.

But even with that missed time, Naylor tied for the MLB lead in both steals and fWAR (0.8) over the week, had the highest slugging (1.286), OPS (1.874) and wRC+ (397) of any player with more than 10 plate appearances, was just one off the lead for homers, and had just one strikeout along the way.

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Keaschall was tied for 13th in fWAR (0.5), and was 14th in wRC+ (267) and 16th in OPS (1.318) among hitters with at least 10 plate appearances.

Not to take anything away from what Keaschall did, but Naylor is deserving of having his contributions since joining the Mariners recognized.

Picked up by the M’s on July 24 in a trade from the Arizona Diamondbacks, the one-time All-Star first baseman has quickly made an impact for Seattle. In 15 games since the trade, he’s slashing .288/.362/.577 for a .939 OPS and 165 wRC+ (league average is always 100).

Those numbers are clearly boosted by his huge showing last week, but then you need to factor in his incredible streak of baserunning. He’s 11 for 11 in stolen base attempts since joining the M’s, giving him as many steals for Seattle as he had for Arizona in over six times as many games (11 steals on 13 attempts in 93 games).

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Despite ranking in just the third percentile in sprint speed in baseball per Statcast, Naylor leads MLB in steals since July 11. What makes that even more impressive is all of his steals over that period have come since he made his Mariners debut, which was two weeks into that stretch.

Josh Naylor has 22 stolen bases this season … his previous career high was 10! pic.twitter.com/kdAOYdg9KR

— MLB (@MLB) August 11, 2025

Naylor and the Mariners have the day off Monday, then return to action when they open a road trip at 3:35 p.m. Tuesday against the Baltimore Orioles. Seattle Sports radio coverage will begin at 2:30 with the pregame show.

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