San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija has been named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending September 3rd. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Samardzija compiled a 1-0 record with a 0.56 ERA over 16.0 innings pitched to claim his second career NL Player of the Week Award, last winning for the period ending August 26, 2013 as a member of the Chicago Cubs. Jeff tallied 14 punchouts and issued just two free passes along with five hits in two dominant starts last week. This is San Francisco's first weekly honor of the 2017 campaign, and the first for a Giants hurler since Jeff's teammate Johnny Cueto on May 29, 2016. Among qualified NL starters, the Indiana native finished the period with the highest innings total, as well as the third-most strikeouts.
In Jeff's first start of the week on August 28th against the San Diego Padres, the 6'5" right-hander tossed his first complete-game shutout of the season, limiting the Friars to just three hits while not permitting a free pass. The dominant outing was his fourth career shutout, and first since September 21, 2015 against the Detroit Tigers. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, "Shark" joined Clayton Kershaw, Jon Lester and Chris Sale as the only Major League pitchers to have thrown a complete game in each of the last six seasons (2012-17). In his second start during his award-winning week, the 32-year-old tossed 7.0 innings of two-hit ball with nine strikeouts and two walks, holding the St. Louis Cardinals to just one run. Over a span of eight starts dating back to July 26th, the 2014 All-Star has recorded a 5-1 record with a 2.60 ERA and 46 strikeouts (13 walks) over 55.1 innings of work. Reaching the 6.0-inning mark in each start, the Giants have posted a 6-2 record during his recent string of impressive starts. Entering play today, the former multi-spot Notre Dame athlete ranks fourth in the Majors in strikeout-to-walk ratio with a 6.57 mark on the season, trailing only All-Stars Sale of the Boston Red Sox (7.30), Kershaw (7.29) of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Corey Kluber (6.73) of the Cleveland Indians.
Three-time All-Star first baseman Anthony Rizzo (.385, 9 R, 7 XBH, 8 RBI) of the Chicago Cubs also posted a strong week. With Saturday's multi-hit and three-RBI effort, Rizzo joined Hack Wilson, Billy Williams and Sammy Sosa as the only players in team history to post at least 30 home runs, 30 doubles and 100 RBI in three separate seasons. Other noteworthy performances last week included Rizzo's teammate Ian Happ (.421, 4 R, 8 H, 7 RBI); outfielder Tommy Pham (.467, 4 R, 4 XBH, 6 RBI) and starting pitcher Luke Weaver (2-0, 2.84 ERA, 12.2 IP, 19 SO) of the St. Louis Cardinals; and outfielder Ender Inciarte (.448, 13 H, 5 RBI, 3 SB) of the Atlanta Braves.
In recognition of his National League Player of the Week Award, Jeff Samardzija will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.