Brandon Belt of the San Francisco Giants named National League Player of the Week

San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt has been named National League Player of the Week for the period ending August 11th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.

Belt collected hits in each of his seven games last week, compiling a .440 (11-for-25) batting average, which was the eighth-highest mark among National Leaguers. The 25-year-old led the Senior Circuit in total bases (20) and runs scored (8), tied for second in home runs (2) and hits, and posted the N.L.'s eighth-best slugging percentage (.800). Belt also added a .500 on-base percentage for the week while clubbing three doubles and collecting five RBI.

On Monday, the Texas native reached base in all four of his plate appearances, going 3-for-3 (three singles) with a walk and two runs scored, helping his club to a 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in the series-opener of their four-game set at AT&T Park. After dropping the next two games to the Brew Crew, the Giants earned the split with a 4-1 win in Thursday's series finale, highlighted by Belt's three-run, first-inning blast. The left-handed-hitting slugger pulled a 1-0 offering over the right field wall to give San Francisco an early 3-0 lead in support of Tim Lincecum, who earned the win. Belt homered the following night as well - his second time homering in back-to-back games this season - in a 5-2, extra-inning loss to the visiting Baltimore Orioles. In Saturday's matchup between the Clubs, the University of Texas product notched his 22nd multi-hit game of the 2013 campaign, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored as the Giants edged the Orioles, 3-2. Belt tallied his 46th RBI of season with an RBI double in an eventual 10-2 loss in Sunday's rubber-match. The 46 RBI are just 10 RBI short of his career high of 56, set last year. Belt has already established a new career best with 13 home runs, trumping his previous high of nine, also set last year. This is his first career weekly award.

Other noteworthy performances last week included Matt Carpenter (.355, 11 H, 4 2B, .375 OBP) and Matt Holliday (.478, 11 H, 2 HR, 6 RBI, .739 SLG) of the St. Louis Cardinals; Carl Crawford (.462, 12 H, 3 2B, 2B, .517 OBP) and Zack Greinke (2-0, 1.42 ERA, 11 SO, 12.2 IP) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Donnie Murphy (.316, 3 HR, 7 RBI, .895 SLG) of the Chicago Cubs; Atlanta's Justin Upton (.391, 9 H, 3 HR, 5 RBI, .826 SLG, .417 OBP); Washington's Jayson Werth (.500, 9 H, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 7 R, .833 SLG, .609 OBP) and Stephen Strasburg (1-0, 1.13 ERA, SHO, 19 SO, 16.0 IP); and Matt Harvey (1-0, 0.00 ERA, SHO, 6 SO, 9.0 IP) of the New
York Mets.

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