2024 Sunburst Awards: Washington Nationals games 82-84

Make it four series wins in a row!

“Sunburst Awards” is a series-by-series evaluation of player performance, where four different awards are given out after each series: Offensive player of the series, defensive player of the series, pitcher of the series, and highlight play of the series. This edition will be covering the 27th series of the season, where the Tampa Bay Rays took on the Washington Nationals from June 28 to June 30, a three game series at Tropicana Field.

How about another series win and the Rays are back at .500! Let’s give out some awards.

-NOTE- In the last edition of Sunburst Awards, there was a mistake in which Richie Palacios was given the highlight award for a play by Jose Caballero. The correction has been made in the archives and it won’t happen again.

Game 1: Rays - 3 Nationals - 1 (recap)

Game 2: Rays - 1 Nationals - 8 (recap)

Game 3: Rays - 5 Nationals - 0 (recap)

Offensive Sunburst Award: Isaac Paredes

Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images

Paredes found himself just a single away from the cycle on Sunday, with a homer, double, and yes even a triple against the Nationals in a 5-0 win. Here is Paredes’ three hit day.

The triple was just the second of the 2x Silver Sunburst winner’s career, and added to a massively successful 2024 campaign. Paredes now totals 43 RBI this season, sporting an OPS of .833.

This sunburst has even more at stake for Paredes, qualifying him for the June Silver Sunburst at the last possible moment, giving him an opportunity to win his third straight.

Pitching Sunburst Award: Taj Bradley

Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images

Bradley has shown so much improvement this season on the mound, and his start on Sunday against the Nats was another great jump from the young phenom.

Bradley pitched 5 ²⁄₃ innings on Sunday, giving up just three hits and two walks in a shutout effort to earn the win.

Oh yeah, and he struck out ELEVEN batters while he was at it.

Bradley now has racked up 129 strikeouts over the course of the 2024 season, showing off how high his ceiling can be in years to come.

Defensive Sunburst Award: Jonny DeLuca

Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

DeLuca earns his second consecutive Sunburst Award with this incredible diving catch in the ninth inning of game one. This catch had everything you could ask for: high pressure moment, impressive dive, and a phenomenal call by Dewayne Staats.

Highlight Sunburst Award: Yandy Diaz

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Diaz made history this weekend, extending his hitting streak to a franchise record 20 games with a single to centerfield.

Conclusion

It’s fun to watch Rays baseball right now! four straight series wins and winning nine of their last thirteen games to get back to .500 for the first time since June 5. Up next is a road trip starting in Kansas City starting Tuesday, with first pitch being at 8:10 PM.