After a spectacular week against the Tampa Bay Rays and the St. Louis Cardinals, Major League Baseball has named Colorado Rockies outfielder Jake McCarthy as the National League Player of the Week. He is the first Rockie to win NL Player of the Week since Hunter Goodman earned the honor on September 8, 2025, and the first Colorado outfielder to do so since Brenton Doyle won the award on July 8, 2024.
"It was cool," McCarthy said. "You know, I honestly didn't know that there was an award — a weekly award — in the big leagues. Maybe I just haven't been paying attention. But obviously, to get named that and [Wilyer] Abreu — the guy in the AL — obviously had a good week too. So yeah, it's it's good company to be in."
McCarthy, 29, led the NL in batting average (.519), OPS (1.352), hits (14), and total bases (23), while his eight runs scored tied for second. In 28 plate appearances over six games, McCarthy also hit three doubles and two home runs while driving in five runs and stealing three bases. Perhaps the most interesting fact was that he struck out just one time during the week.
"I'm just trying to play hard and, honestly, not look too much into the result," he said. "I'm just trying to be dynamic and, obviously, I've been at the the top of the lineup for these guys for the majority of the season. So I'm just getting comfortable with that, and sort of getting a lot of opportunities to just help the team win, whether it's offensively or defensively, on the base paths, whatever. I just take pride in it and try to do my best."
On Saturday, August 8, McCarthy had four hits, including his two home runs, marking his fifth career game with at least four hits and third career game with multiple home runs. During that game, he became just the third player since 1920 to have four hits, two homers, three RBI, and two stolen bases in a game, joining Shohei Ohtani in 2024 and Breggo Roth. He also became the eighth player since 1900 to have at least four hits, two home runs and two stolen bases in a game, and the first to do so since Mickey Moniak accomplished the same feat for Colorado last September.
2026 has been a breakout season for the Scranton, Pennsylvania native. Since being acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks , McCarthy has settled into a crucial role at the top of the Rockies lineup. He enters the start of the series against his former club on Monday batting .306/.342/.518 with a career-high 13 home runs, including two inside-the-park home runs, as well as career-highs in doubles (25) and RBI (67) with 20 stolen bases. He also has 32 multi-hit games, which are tied with rookie TJ Rumfield for the most on the club.
McCarthy has also settled in nicely as the leadoff hitter, where he has hit .307/.336/.546 with 11 home runs out of the top spot in the lineup. He has also slugged four leadoff home runs for the Rockies this season, with his leadoff home run on Saturday marking the second to come on the first pitch of the game. He is the first Rockie with multiple first-pitch leadoff home runs in a single season and the first Rockie with at least four leadoff shots in his first season with the club.
What's more important is that McCarthy has not been fazed by home and road splits. At Coors Field, he is hitting .318/.345/.559 with eight home runs, while on the road he is hitting .293/.339/.471 with five home runs. Additionally, on the platoon front, he is hitting .297/.333/.498 against right-handed pitching and .333/.366/.573 against left-handed pitching.
Under team control for two more seasons, McCarthy has found a comfortable home in Colorado with his continued dynamic level of play.
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