Tyler O'Neill spearheaded a 6-0 stretch for the Cardinals.
O'Neill, St. Louis' 26-year-old left fielder, hit safely in all six games last week, drove in at least one run in five of them and swatted three home runs, two of which came in the eighth inning and put the Cardinals in the lead.
The Cardinals have won eight straight games overall to take hold of the No. 2 National League Wild Card spot.
O'Neill finished the week with a .391 average, 10 RBIs, nine runs scored and a 1.308 OPS to win Player of the Week honors for the first time.
I'll admit, even when he was raking back in May, I was a bit hesitant that the power would stay streaky and he'd be trenched in a .250/.300/.500 type slash line. But since that point he's hit much better for average and taking more walks. He still strikes out a TON (TON pun), but his improved batting profile plus these power spikes are really rounding him out into a great all-around player.
Evan C: Is Tyler O’Neill for real? Is this what you expect from him next year?
Ben Clemens: I don’t think he’s THIS real but I buy the general improvements he’s made on the year
Ben Clemens: I wrote earlier this year about how his low walk rate didn’t reflect his true talent:
Ben Clemens: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/tyler-oneil ... come-king/
Ben Clemens: And I think that his current production on contact numbers probably flatter him a bit
Ben Clemens: But I do think he’s closer to what he’s doing right now than to an average hitter
