Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman has been named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending April 30th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Zimmerman hit .500 (13-for-26) with 11 runs scored, two doubles, five home runs and 13 RBI over six games to claim his fourth career NL Player of the Week Award, last winning on July 22, 2012. The University of Virginia product paced the Majors in home runs, RBI and total bases (30). Among his NL counterparts, Ryan finished second in runs scored and slugging percentage (1.154), tied for second in batting average and extra-base hits (7), and third in hits. This is the Nationals' second consecutive weekly award, following Ryan's teammate Bryce Harper, and a player from the NL East has earned the award each week so far in 2017 (J.T. Realmuto and Marcell Ozuna of the Miami Marlins won the previous two weeks).
During his award-winning week, Zimmerman logged four consecutive multi-hit games from April 26th-30th. Dating back to April 22nd, the two-time Silver Slugger Award recipient (2009-10) owns an eight-game hitting streak. On Saturday afternoon at Nationals Park against the New York Mets, Zimmerman tallied three hits, including his 11th home run of the season, to go along with a run scored and three RBI. This is the first time in his career that Zimmerman has hit 11 round-trippers in the month of April, only reaching the mark in a single month one other time during his 13-year career (September, 2013). With the solo homer, the 2009 NL All-Star passed Hall of Famer Andre Dawson to move into second place on the franchise's all-time home run list (226), trailing only Vladimir Guerrero (235). Entering play today, Zimmerman, who was Washington's first draft selection in franchise history (No. 4 overall in the 2005 MLB Draft), currently leads all Major Leaguers in hits (37), batting average (.420), RBI (29) and slugging percentage (.886), and is tied with Milwaukee's Eric Thames for the Major League lead in home runs (11). The Nationals recorded four wins during Ryan's hot week at the plate and currently own the best record in Baseball at 17-8 (.680).
Ryan's teammates Anthony Rendon (.440, 8 R, 3 HR, 11 RBI) and Trea Turner (.400, 13 R, 8 XBH, 11 RBI) also posted impressive weeks. In Sunday afternoon's 23-5 win over the Mets, Rendon, the 2016 NL Comeback Player of the Year Award-winner, became just the second player in MLB history to have a game that included six hits, three home runs and 10 RBI (also Walker Cooper of the Cincinnati Reds on July 6, 1949). On Tuesday night against the Colorado Rockies, Turner joined Cirstian Guzman (8/28/08) and Brad Wilkerson (4/6/05) as the only Nationals players to ever hit for the cycle. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the speedy shortstop became just the eighth player in MLB history to drive in seven-or-more runs while hitting for the cycle. Moreover, Cincinnati's Scott Schebler (.474, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 1.263 SLG) recorded five home runs in five games from April 23rd-28th, and has posted multi-hit efforts in five of his last six games, entering play today. Other noteworthy performances included Hernán Pérez (.409, 7 R, 7 XBH, 8 RBI) of the Milwaukee Brewers; Paul Goldschmidt (.500, 6 R, 7 RBI, 3 SB) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; Kenley Jansen (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 SV, 9 SO) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; and Ivan Nova of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who pitched a complete-game shutout on Saturday against the Miami Marlins.
In recognition of his National League Player of the Week Award, Ryan Zimmerman will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.