Adrian Gonzalez of the Los Angeles Dodgers named National League Player of the Week

First baseman Adrian Gonzalez of the Los Angeles Dodgers was named National League Player of the Week for the week ending April 12th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.

The veteran slugger, who led baseball with 116 RBI in 2014, opened the 2015 campaign on a torrid pace, leading the Majors with five home runs, 14 hits, 32 total bases and a .609 batting average (14-for-23) in six games last week. Gonzalez also posted the top slugging (1.391) and on-base percentages (.667) in the Majors and led the NL with eight runs scored, while tying for fourth among National Leaguers with seven RBI. The four-time All-Star homered on Opening Day and on Tuesday night against the San Diego Padres before going deep three times in Wednesday's contest against his former club, becoming the only player in Major League history to hit five home runs through his team's first three contests of a season (courtesy of Elias Sports Bureau). In doing so, Gonzalez became just the third Dodger since 1914 to open the season with at least one home run in each of the club's first three games, joining Jim Wynn (1974) and Carl Furillo (1955). He went a combined 10-for-13 off Padres pitchers during the three-game set at Dodger Stadium, leading Los Angeles to victories on Monday and Wednesday. Gonzalez collected at least one hit in all six of his games last week and had multi-hit performances in four of them. This is his eighth career Player of the Week Award and first as a Dodger. His last weekly honor came August 6-12, 2012 as a member of the Boston Red Sox, and his last NL award was for the week of May 17-23, 2010 with San Diego.

Other noteworthy performances last week included Atlanta pitchers Julio Teheran (2-0, 1.50 ERA, 9 SO, 12.0 IP) and Jason Grilli (3 SV, 0.00 ERA, 4 SO, 3.0 IP); San Francisco's Santiago Casilla (3 SV, 0.00 ERA, 3 SO, 3.0 IP) and Nori Aoki (.400, 4 R, 12 H, 2 2B); Bartolo Colon (2-0, 2.25 ERA, 13 SO, 13.0 IP) of the New York Mets; Cincinnati's Johnny Cueto (0-1, 0.64 ERA, 14 SO, 14.0 IP), Todd Frazier (.292, 5 R, 3 HR, 8 RBI, .708 SLG, .480 OBP) and Joey Votto (.333, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 5 R, .708 SLG, .429 OBP); and Colorado's D.J. LeMahieu (.480, 12 H, 3B, 5 RBI, .480 OBP).

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