Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder J.D. Martinez has been named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending September 10th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Martinez posted a slash line of .429/.448/1.214 with eight runs scored, 12 hits, a double, seven home runs and 11 RBI over six games played to claim his fifth career Player of the Week Award, and his first in the NL. J.D., who earned weekly honors twice earlier this season with the Detroit Tigers (May 21st & July 16th), is the only player in the Majors to claim three weekly awards this season. Among NL leaders, Martinez finished the period first in home runs, RBI, total bases (34), extra-base hits (8) and slugging percentage, and matched All-Star outfielder Charlie Blackmon of the Colorado Rockies for the NL lead in runs scored. This is Arizona's second NL Player of the Week Award this season, following J.D.'s All-Star teammate Jake Lamb, who won for the period ending May 21st.
In the first game of his award-winning week last Monday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Martinez became the 18th player in Major League history - and the second of the 2017 season (also Scooter Gennett of the Cincinnati Reds) - to club four home runs in a single contest. The right-handed slugger tallied six RBI during his historic output and became the first player in the Modern Era to homer in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings of the same game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. In addition, the 30-year-old became the first player since Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt (1976) to log three homers in a game in the seventh frame-or-later. On the mound, J.D.'s All-Star teammate Robbie Ray logged 7.2 innings of shutout ball with 14 strikeouts and just three hits allowed. Per Elias, it marked the first time in MLB history that a player notched more homers than the opposing club posted hits (3). Martinez, a 2015 AL All-Star, matched his career high with his second four-hit game of the week on Saturday against the San Diego Padres at Chase Field. In yesterday's series finale against the Padres, Arizona's slugger recorded his sixth multi-homer game of the season to lead Arizona to a 3-2 victory. Since making his D-backs debut on July 19th, Martinez has slashed .269/.342/.701 with 32 runs scored, 45 hits, seven doubles, 21 round-trippers and 58 RBI over 45 games played. Arizona enters play today with an 83-60 (.580) record, occupying the first NL Wild Card spot with a 5.0-game lead.
Other noteworthy performances last week included J.D.'s aforementioned teammate Ray (2-0, 1.32 ERA, 13.2 IP, 26 SO); All-Star starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 14.0 IP, 18 SO) and outfielder Michael A. Taylor (.409, 5 XBH, 9 RBI, 2 SB) of the Washington Nationals; All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado (.444, 6 R, 4 XBH, 8 RBI) and Carlos González (.526, 7 R, 7 XBH, 1.105 SLG) of the Rockies; All-Star starting pitcher Carlos Martínez (1-0, 1.20 ERA, 1 CG SHO, 18 SO) of the St. Louis Cardinals; and outfielder Nick Williams (.400, 5 R, 12 H, 10 RBI) of the Philadelphia Phillies.
In recognition of his National League Player of the Week Award, J.D. Martinez will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.