Diaz’s go-ahead homerun on Wednesday proved vital
In a series that most players performed well but didn’t necessarily excel, it makes it difficult to determine a specific player to dole out our Player of the Series honor to. It’s also a struggle when the Rays drop two of the three games in the series. Brandon Lowe extended his hitting streak to 18 games and homered. Christopher Morel, Danny Jansen, Josh Lowe, Junior Caminero, and Yandy Diaz also all had homeruns; Jake Mangum even had an inside-the-park homerun. Shane Baz pitched seven innings and racked up 11 strikeouts, but allowed three runs; Ryan Pepiot pitched six and allowed two runs.
Almost any of those players could be given this accolade.
However, I’m going to go with Yandy Diaz.
Diaz crushed his 14th homerun of the season, matching his 2024 season total. Overall during the three game series, Diaz had two walks and three hits over 13 trips to the plate, including the aforementioned homerun. The blast was a two-run go-ahead homerun that put the Rays in the lead late against the Athletics; Tampa Bay narrowly held on for a 6-5 victory.
Diaz has rediscovered his power stroke in 2025 and is again among the top offensive players in baseball. Thus far over 360 PA this season, Diaz is hitting .291/.347/.474 with 14 HR, registering a 130 wRC+ and has accrued 1.8 fWAR over 81 games. Since the start of play on May 31st, Diaz ranks 3rd in the big leagues with 1.9 fWAR (extremely impressive considering he rarely plays defense) and is hitting .402/.477/.652 with a 217 wRC+. Diaz has also reached base in 26 consecutive games, the 2nd longest active streak in baseball.
DRAYSBAY PLAYER OF THE SERIES
- 1st: Kameron Misner
- 2nd: Jake Mangum
- 3rd: Brandon Lowe
- 4th: Jose Caballero
- 5th: Joe Boyle
- 6th: Shane Baz
- 7th: Chandler Simpson
- 8th: Christopher Morel
- 9th: Chandler Simpson
- 10th: Mason Englert
- 11th: Taylor Walls
- 12th: Yandy Diaz
- 13th: Travis Jankowski
- 14th: Brandon Lowe
- 15th: Drew Rasmussen
- 16th: Curtis Mead
- 17th: Junior Caminero
- 18th: Zack Littell
- 19th: Zack Littell
- 20th: Junor Caminero
- 21st: Christopher Morel
- 22nd: Yandy Diaz
- 23rd: Junior Caminero
- 24th: Brandon Lowe
- 25th: Yandy Diaz
- 26th: Shane Baz
- 27th: Brandon Lowe
- 28th: Yandy Diaz