First 2026 MLB Players of the Week Have 2 Surprising Things in Common

The first MLB Player of the Week Awards of the 2026 season are out, and the winners in each league have multiple things in common. 

Sal Stewart and Chase DeLauter are both rookies, they both play for MLB teams in Ohio, and we probably will be hearing a lot more from them in the future.

The kids are all right 

Stewart, a 22-year-old right-handed hitting infielder for the Cincinnati Reds, went 7-for-10 with a home run and three doubles as the Reds won two of three games over the Boston Red Sox. He also walked three times for an on-base percentage of .769 and an OPS of 2.069. 

DeLauter, a 24-year-old left-handed outfielder for the Cleveland Guardians, homered twice on opening day and finished the week leading the majors in HRs (four) and total bases (18). 

Per MLB, he became the first player in franchise history (since 1901) to hit multiple home runs in his regular season debut. He is the fifth player in franchise history to hit a home run in his first career plate appearance. 

Stewart appeared in 18 games last season, hitting .255 with five home runs, but he did not play enough to lose rookie status. 

DeLauter did not play in the 2025 regular season, but he did appear in the AL Wild Card series loss to the Tigers for Cleveland. 

The surprises don’t stop there 

This double-dip of young MLB POWs actually has precedent. 

In the first week of 2016, Trevor Story of the Colorado Rockies and Tyler White of the Houston Astros won the NL and AL Player of the Week Awards in the National League and American League, respectively, as rookies. 

Two rookies were league POWs in the same week much more recently than that, though, as Luke Keaschall and Isaac Collins were honored playing for the Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers, respectively, for the week of Aug. 11. 

From a team standpoint, Albert Belle (April 30, 1995) was the last player for Cleveland to win the first AL Player of the Week Award of a season. Cal Daniels (April 10, 1988) was the most recent Red. 

Big year coming for MLB rookies? 

Jared Greenspan at MLB.com noted rookies put up impressive numbers across the majors in the first week of the 2026 regular season. 

That includes 15 home runs and a 1.008 OPS, both the highest since 1900. 

Munetaka Murakami hit three of those homers for the White Sox while Kevin McGonigle went 5 for 12 for the Tigers.