Cincinnati Reds second baseman Scooter Gennett has been named the National League Player of the Week presented by W.B. Mason for the period ending May 27th.
Gennett batted .500 (12-for-24) with six runs scored, two doubles, three home runs and 10 RBI over six games played to claim his third career Player of the Week Award and second of the 2018 season, previously winning for the period ending May 13th. Among his NL counterparts, Scooter finished the period first in hits, slugging percentage (.958) and total bases (23); tied for first in home runs, extra-base hits (5) and RBI; second in batting average; tied for third in runs scored; and seventh in on-base percentage (.519). Gennett is the first National Leaguer to earn a second weekly honor thus far in 2018, and the second across the Majors, joining Francisco Lindor of the Cleveland Indians.
In the first game of his award-winning week on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Gennett batted 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored, one double and a grand slam to propel the Reds to a 7-2 victory. The six-year veteran tallied six RBI in the outing for the second time of his career, and the first since his historic four-homer, 10-RBI outing on June 6th of last season against the St. Louis Cardinals. On Saturday night against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, Gennett matched his career best with five hits, including four singles and his 10th homer of the season. The performance marked the second time in his career that he recorded five hits, last doing so in the aforementioned game against the Cardinals in 2017. In addition, Gennett became the first Reds player to tally four singles in a contest since Steve Selsky accomplished the feat on September 26, 2016 against the Cardinals. Across a pair of games over the weekend, the left-handed-hitting slugger notched a hit in seven consecutive plate appearances, including five singles, a double and one home run. The impressive stretch was the longest such streak by a Reds player since Arismendy Alcántara posted a streak of seven consecutive plate appearances from April 30 - May 8, 2017. Following his outstanding week at the plate, the 28-year-old enters play today with the highest batting average in the NL (.347) to go along with 28 runs scored, 70 hits, 13 doubles, 10 home runs and 37 RBI.
Other noteworthy performances last week included first baseman Jesús Aguilar (5 R, 7 H, 2 HR, 10 RBI) and third baseman Travis Shaw (.400, 6 R, 5 XBH, 10 RBI) of the Milwaukee Brewers; starting pitcher Walker Buehler (1-0, 1.29 ERA, 14.0 IP, 14 SO) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; newly debuted outfielder Austin Meadows (.455, 6 R, 5 XBH, .909 SLG) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; starter Miles Mikolas (1-0, 2.40 ERA, 1 CG SHO, 14 SO) of the Cardinals; starter German Márquez (2-1, 1.29 ERA, 14.0 IP, 11 SO) of the Rockies; and second baseman/outfielder Jose Pirela of the San Diego Padres.
In recognition of his National League Player of the Week Award, Scooter Gennett will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.