San Diego Padresfirst baseman Gavin Sheets was struggling as he entered Tuesday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers. After coming off a hitless three-game series (0 for 9, two walks) against the St. Louis Cardinals, Sheets had a .209 batting average with a .690 OPS on the season.
Sheets was able to turn it around against the Brewers, starting with a 1-for-1 performance with a walk on Tuesday. The 6-foot-3 first baseman stayed hot all series, recording a hit in each game, including a clutch home run off Milwaukee closer Abner Uribe with two outs in the ninth inning on Wednesday. With that homer, the Gilman School graduate became the first player in MLB history to have three go-ahead, three-run, ninth-inning home runs in a season.
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Sheets continued to rake at the plate in the Padres’ next series against the Seattle Mariners, hitting three home runs over the weekend and extending his hit streak to six games. On Monday, MLB announced that Sheets was awarded National League Player of the Week for his performance, while Angel Martinez of the Cleveland Guardians won the American League award. This is the first time both players have won the award.
In total, for the week of May 11 through May 17, Sheets went 10-for-16 at the plate with four home runs and eight RBIs for an absurd 1.438 slugging percentage and 2.177 OPS. After just six games over the past week, Sheets raised his batting average to .262 and increased his OPS by more than 200 points to .896.
That same day, the Padres took to social media to react to their first baseman winning the award. In a post on X, San Diego posted a graphic of Sheets along with his numbers from the week.
“Sheets stays hot,” the Padres wrote.
San Diego returns from its six-game road trip to face the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night at 9:40 p.m. ET.
