Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals named NL Player of the Week

Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals has been named National League Player of the Week for May 4th-11th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.

Harper led the Majors with six home runs, 13 RBI, a 1.318 slugging percentage and 29 total bases while posting a .455 batting average (10-for-22), which was fourth-best among qualifying NL hitters last week. The twotime All-Star also ranked among League leaders in runs scored (T-4th, 8), on-base percentage (6th, .520) and hits (T-6th). Harper's torrid pace helped the Nationals go 5-1 last week as his club climbed into second place in the NL East. The 2012 NL Rookie of the Year made history by hitting six homers with 12 RBI in a three-game span last week, joining Tony Lazzeri (1936), Ralph Kiner (1947), Manny Ramirez (1998) and Shawn Green (2002) as the only big leaguers to do so since 1920 (courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau). Harper capped the historic stretch by hitting a walk-off homer to end Saturday's 8-6 victory over the Atlanta Braves. It was the third career walk-off homer for the 22-year-old, who joined Frank Robinson, Tommy Davis, Eddie Murray, Juan Gonzalez and teammate Ryan Zimmerman as the only players in Major League history to hit as many walk-off home runs at the age of 22-oryounger.

The late-game heroics came on the heels of consecutive multi-homer performances from the left-handedhitting slugger. Harper clubbed a pair of long balls in Friday night's 9-2 win over the Braves and went deep three times in Wednesday's 7-5 victory over the Miami Marlins, becoming the youngest player in history to hit five total home runs in two consecutive games (previous: Mark McGwire, 23, 1987). This is his first career Player of the Week honor.

Other noteworthy performances last week included Atlanta's Freddie Freeman (.500, 6 R, 12 H, 5 2B, HR, 7 RBI, .833 SLG) and Shelby Miller (1-0, 0.00 ERA, CG, SHO, 9.0 IP, 8 SO); San Francisco's Brandon Belt (.520, 4 R, 13 H, 5 2B, .800 SLG, .586 OBP) and Ryan Vogelsong (1-0, 0.64 ERA, 9 SO, 14.0 IP); Cincinnati's Marlon Byrd (.381, 4 R, 3 HR, 8 RBI, .952 SLG); Washington's Yunel Escobar (.476, 5 R, 10 H, 5 RBI, .500 OBP); Jason Heyward (.423, 10 R, 11 H, 2 2B, 4 RBI, .464 OBP) and Kolten Wong (.480, 6 R, 12 H, 2 HR, 9 RBI, .800 SLG, .519 OBP) of the St. Louis Cardinals; Chicago's Anthony Rizzo (.355, 5 R, 11 H, 3 HR, 7 RBI, .742 SLG); and Bartolo Colon (2-0, 3.29 ERA, 15 SO, 13.2 IP) of the New York Mets.

In recognition of his National League Player of the Week Award, Bryce Harper will be awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time, the leader in licensed sports watches, available at MLB.com.