John Rave earns first Player of the Week after torrid Omaha series

Nine hits in 19 at-bats, five extra-base hits and 18 total bases made John Rave impossible to ignore in Iowa, where the Omaha Storm Chasers’ left-handed bat played his way into the International League’s Player of the Week award.

Rave hit .474 from April 6-12, added three doubles and two home runs, and led the league in total bases while posting a .500 on-base percentage, .947 slugging percentage and 1.447 OPS. He also stole two bases, drew three walks and finished with three multi-hit games, a run of production that went well beyond a short burst of contact.

The award was Rave’s first career weekly honor and his first as Omaha’s first player to win one this season. It came during a road trip that helped steady the Storm Chasers, who swept a doubleheader in Iowa on April 11 and moved above .500 for the first time in 2026. Rave reached base five times in the opener and drove in runs in both games, the kind of impact that changes a series from the top of the order.

Through 13 games, Rave was hitting .319 with 15 hits in 47 at-bats and a .996 OPS, and he led Omaha in hits, walks and total bases. That is why this award feels like more than a hot streak. Rave, 28, has spent five Triple-A seasons in Omaha and has played 285 games there since reaching the level in 2022, so the Royals know exactly who he is. They have already seen him in the majors too, after his debut on May 26, 2025, and 72 games with Kansas City last season. A left-handed hitter who is producing this much power and on-base value at Triple-A does not just collect honors; he starts a harder conversation about the next call-up.

Rave’s résumé has been building for years. Kansas City drafted him in the fifth round out of Illinois State in 2019, and he has already added MiLB.com Organization All-Star honors in 2021, an Arizona Fall League Rising Star nod in 2022 and Omaha Player of the Year recognition in 2024. This week’s award fits that climb, but the bigger story is what it says about his place in the Royals’ plans now.