Baseball's Players of the Week: Middlebrooks, Heyward, Verlander, Miley

Each week Athlon Sports looks back at the previous week's best baseball players in the American and National Leagues and recaps the most outstanding pitching performances. Here are last week's — June 18-24 — standouts.

AL Player of the Week

Will Middlebrooks, Boston

The Red Sox are confident enough in rookie Middlebrooks that they were willing to part with long-time fan favorite Kevin Youkilis last weekend. The young third sacker hasn’t disappointed and seems to be getting better. Last week he hit .625 with a 2.007 OPS with three home runs and 10 RBIs.

AL Pitcher of the Week

Justin Verlander, Detroit

Verlander still hasn’t pitched a perfect game, but he defeated both the Cardinals and Pirates last week, holding the two teams to 10 hits over 16 innings. The righthander walked only five and struck out 10 in winning both his starts for the Tigers. Verlander’s last four starts (all wins) have come against National League teams.

NL Player of the Week

Jason Heyward, Atlanta

The streaky Braves rightfielder has been on-again off-again this season, but was definitely on last week during a road trip to Boston and New York to visit the Yankees. He led the National League with nine runs and had seven extra-base hits. He batted .522 with three homers and five RBIs.

NL Pitcher of the Week

Wade Miley, Arizona

The Southeastern Louisiana alum may be the best-kept secret in the big leagues. The Diamondbacks have won seven of his last 10 starts, and scored a total of three runs in the three losses. Last week, Miley defeated the Mariners and Cubs, tossing a total of 15 innings and giving up just 12 hits and one walk. He whiffed 15. He is now 9-3 with a 2.19 ERA for the season.