Willson Contreras named National League Player of the Week

For the just-completed six-game homestand, Willson Contreras hit .455/.478/1.182 (yes, that’s a slugging percentage over 1.000, meaning he averaged at least one base for every at-bat) with an OPS of 1.660. He was 10-for-22 with a double, five home runs, 13 RBI and six runs.

For that performance, Major League Baseball selected Willson as National League Player of the Week. He’s the first Cub to be so named this year.

This extends a great run for Contreras that began more than a month ago:

Contreras’ season is worth (so far) 3.5 WAR according to baseball-reference.com and 3.2 WAR according to fangraphs.com.

It should be noted that as recently as three years ago, Contreras was struggling at Daytona in the Florida State League. He hit .242/.320/.359 in 317 PA that year, only a couple of years after converting from third base to catching.

He had a breakout season in Double-A the following year, 2015, hitting .333/.413/.478 in 521 plate appearances, and was named Cubs Minor League Player of the Year.

At 25, there’s no telling how much better he can get. Congratulations to Willson on the first of what I hope are many baseball awards.