Pedro Alvarez of the Pittsburgh Pirates named National League Player of the Week

Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez has been named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending September 2nd. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.

In six games last week, Alvarez tied for the Major League lead with four home runs while ranking third among National Leaguers with a .458 (11-for-24) batting average. The Vanderbilt University product led the N.L. with a 1.042 slugging percentage and had the second-most total bases (25) for the week while placing third in hits (11), fifth in on-base percentage (.500), and tying for sixth with eight RBI. Alvarez collected hits in five of six games last week and had four multi-hit efforts. On August 28th, Alvarez tied a career-best with a four-hit effort, going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI in a 9-0 victory over the visiting St. Louis Cardinals. The second overall selection in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft clubbed two homers in the win, giving him five career multi-homer performances (all as a third baseman), which tied Richie Hebner and Aramis Ramirez for the most multi-homer games in Pirates history by a third baseman (Elias Sports Bureau).

The left-handed-hitting slugger collected a double and a single in addition to the pair of blasts, falling just a triple short of the cycle. In Wednesday’s series finale between the two clubs, Alvarez continued to produce, going 2-for-4 with a double and a home run while driving in three en route to a 5-0 victory in the rubber match of the three-game set. The 25-year-old clubbed his 27th home run of the season in Saturday’s 3-2 loss at Milwaukee. His 27 homers lead all N.L. third basemen and his 49 extra-base hits are tied for fourth. In Pirates franchise history, only Aramis Ramirez (34 in 2001) and Frank Thomas (31 in 1958) have hit more home runs than Alvarez as a third baseman. This is Pedro’s second career weekly award, having won previously for the period ending September 26, 2010.

Other noteworthy performances last week included Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun (.433, 4 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, .867 SLG, .485 OBP), Aramis Ramirez (.346, 3 HR, 12 RBI, .731 SLG, .393 OBP) and Marco Estrada (1-0, 0.75 ERA, 18 SO, 12.0 IP).

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