On the heels of a historic four-homer game, Scooter Gennett was named National League Player of the Week on Monday.
Gennett became the 17th player in Major League history -- and the first for the Reds -- to go deep four times in one game, finishing 5-for-5 with four homers and 10 RBIs in Tuesday's 13-1 win against the Cardinals. He was 10-for-20 with 13 RBIs and a 1.700 OPS on the week.
Waived by Milwaukee during the final week of Spring Training, Gennett was picked up by Cincinnati on March 28 and primarily has been a backup utility man through his first 50 games of 2017, making 24 starts. He was playing left field for Adam Duvall in his slugfest on Tuesday.
• 2017 NL Players of the Week
"I would have to certainly say, based on his recent performance, I found a way to get him in there," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "Every now and again, I get my share of mail that suggests I should be making decisions other than the ones I'm making. I would think after a four-homer game and not starting him, I would get more of that mail."
Drafted in the 16th round in 2009 by the Brewers, with whom he spent the first four years of his big league career, Gennett was named Player of the Week for the first time in his career, and he is the first Cincinnati player to receive the honor since Todd Frazier for the week of June 1 in 2015.
"It's all about what you're going to do for me today. It's going to take some time for me to earn that right to be in there at the top of the lineup," Gennett said. "It's something that's out of my control, in a sense. I'll go out and play, have fun and keep moving up. We all want to get better."