The Red Sox had one of those weeks where the team result makes you want to throw your remote through drywall, but one guy still walked out looking like a damn monster.
Willson Contreras is your American League Player of the Week.
And yeah, it’s a little funny in the most Red Sox way possible.
Boston swept Kansas City, came home, got swept by Minnesota, and somehow in the middle of all that chaos, Contreras was out here swinging like he had zero interest in joining the pity party.
MLB announced that Contreras took home the AL honor while Ketel Marte won it in the National League. For Contreras, it’s his second career Player of the Week award, but his first in the American League after previously winning one with the Cubs back in 2017. It’s also Boston’s first Player of the Week award since Trevor Story last season.
And the numbers were not some cheap little “nice week, buddy” situation either.
Contreras hit .458, going 11-for-24 with two home runs, eight RBI, two triples, five runs, a .480 OBP, an .875 slugging percentage, and a 1.355 OPS across six games. That is not hot. That is “somebody check the bat for illegal wizard shit” hot.
This is exactly why Boston brought him in.
Not to be cute. Not to just be a veteran name. Not to stand at first base and clap politely while the lineup dies.
They needed a grown-man bat. A guy who can lengthen the order, punish mistakes, and give the offense some actual violence when the rest of the lineup starts acting like it forgot where the barrel is.
That was Contreras this week.
He had four multi-hit games, including a three-hit night in Kansas City, two-hit games on Tuesday against the Royals, and then two-hit games again on Saturday and Sunday against Minnesota. Even when the Sox were losing ugly, he was still producing.
That matters.
Because this Red Sox offense has been maddening. One series they wake up. The next series they go quiet. One night they put up runs early. The next night they disappear after the fourth inning like the game got moved to a different channel.
Contreras has been one of the few bats where you feel like the at-bat has a pulse.
And the extra-base damage is the part that really jumps out. He didn’t just slap singles around. He homered. He drove in runs. He tripled in back-to-back games, which MLB noted made him the first Red Sox first baseman to do that since Mitch Moreland did it in 2018.
That is hilarious and awesome at the same time.
A 34-year-old first baseman/catcher hybrid legging out triples in back-to-back games while half the team is trying to find its identity? That’s the type of baseball weirdness I can get behind.
And it wasn’t just a one-week heater out of nowhere. Contreras has hit safely in eight straight games dating back to May 16, batting .452 with six extra-base hits, 10 RBI, and a 1.372 OPS during that stretch. He’s also reached base in 44 of his first 50 games this season.
That’s consistency. That’s professional production.
The frustrating part is obvious: the team didn’t fully cash it in.
Contreras can win AL Player of the Week, Wilyer Abreu can keep swinging it, Payton Tolle can shove, Duran can start waking up, and the Sox can still find a way to cough up games because the bullpen, defense, or late-inning execution turns into a damn crime scene.
That’s what makes this team so annoying.
There are pieces here.
Contreras is one of them.
He’s sitting with a strong season line too — ESPN has him at .281 with 11 homers, 33 RBI, and an .899 OPS through 50 games. That’s not just “good week” production. That’s a guy who has been one of Boston’s more important offensive pieces all season.
And right now, the Red Sox need to treat him like exactly that.
Keep him in run-producing spots. Keep letting him drive the baseball. Keep building the lineup around the guys who are actually doing damage instead of waiting for everyone else to magically wake up at the same time.
Because if Boston is going to crawl out of this annoying-ass stretch, it needs more than vibes.
It needs grown men producing.
Contreras just did that at the highest level in the American League for a week.
Now the rest of the roster needs to stop wasting it.
The final takeaway is simple:
The Red Sox had a messy week.
Willson Contreras had a monster week.
And in a season where Boston keeps giving fans emotional whiplash, Big Will just gave them something clean to celebrate.
AL Player of the Week.
Two homers. Eight RBI. Four multi-hit games. Back-to-back triples. A 1.355 OPS.
That’s not a silver lining.
That’s a dude carrying a bat like a weapon and reminding everyone that even when the Sox are frustrating as hell, there are still real pieces worth building around.