Chris Nelson of the Colorado Rockies named National League Player of the Week

Colorado Rockies third baseman Chris Nelson has been named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending September 16th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.

In six games last week, Nelson ranked first in the Majors with a .560 (14-for-25) batting average, pacing baseball in hits and leading the N.L. with 21 total bases. The ninth overall selection in the 2004 First-Year Player Draft posted the N.L.'s second-best slugging percentage last week (.840), ranked third in on-base percentage (.577) and tied for fifth in the league with six runs scored while driving in five. Nelson collected hits in all six games last week, including five multi-hit efforts, and extended his career-best hitting streak to eight games (dating back to September 9th). On Sunday, the 27-year-old tied his career high with three hits for the third time during the week (also September 11th and 14th), going 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored in a 12-11 loss in San Diego. The three-hit outing came on the heels of a two-hit effort in Saturday's 4-3 loss at PETCO Park. In Friday's series-opener between the division rivals, Nelson's 3-for-4, two-RBI performance led the way to a 7-4 victory for the Rockies. His RBI single in the first inning gave Colorado an early 5-0 lead and his solo shot in the third gave his club a 6-4 cushion. The blast was the ninth of the season for the California native and his fourth since coming off the disabled list on August 6th. Since his return the right-handed-hitting slugger's 41 hits and 24 RBI are tops on the Rockies. This is the first career weekly award for Nelson and the first by a member of the Rockies since Carlos Gonzalez won for the week of August 22-28, 2011.

Other noteworthy performances last week included San Diego's Yonder Alonso (.429, 9 H, 2 2B, HR, 8 RBI, .538 OBP), Logan Forsythe (.423, 6 R, 11 H, 3 2B, HR, .731 SLG, .444 OBP) and Luke Gregerson (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 SV, 4 SO, 4.0 IP); Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen (.391, 9 H, 3 HR, .783 SLG); Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins (.393, 11 H, 9 R, 3 HR, 6 RBI, .750 SLG, 5 SB); Milwaukee's Rickie Weeks (.304, 3 HR, 7 RBI, .826 SLG) and Wily Peralta (1-0, 0.64 ERA, 9 SO, 2 BB, 14.0 IP); Houston's Wilton Lopez (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 SV, 4 SO, 3.2 IP); and Atlanta's Mike Minor (1-0, 0.77 ERA, 11 SO, 11.2 IP).

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