Adam Eaton of the Washington Nationals named National League Player of the Week

With a successful return to the field, Washington Nationals outfielder Adam Eaton has been named the National League Player of the Week presented by W.B. Mason for the period ending April 1st. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Eaton posted a slash line of .615/.643/1.231 with seven runs scored, eight hits, two doubles, two home runs and five RBI over Washington's opening three-game series. It marks his second career Player of the Week Award after earning his first honor while still a member of the Chicago White Sox for the period ending August 2, 2015. Among NL leaders, Adam finished the week first in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, runs scored and total bases (16); tied for first in hits and extra-base hits (4); tied for second in home runs and RBI; and tied for fifth in doubles. This is Washington's first NL Player of the Week Award since Eaton's teammate Anthony Rendon took home weekly honors last year for the period ending July 16th.
On Saturday afternoon against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park, Eaton batted a perfect 5-for-5 with four runs scored, two doubles, a home run and three RBI. The five-hit performance was the first of his career, and the output marked just the second time in Nationals history (2005-present) that a player recorded at least five hits with three extra-base hits and three RBI. The 29-year-old Eaton joined the aforementioned Rendon, who did so against the New York Mets on April 30th of last season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Eaton, who missed the majority of the 2017 season due to injury, became the first leadoff batter to go 5-for-5-or-better with three-or-more extra-base hits and at least four runs scored since two-time All-Star Charlie Blackmon of the Colorado Rockies on April 4, 2014. In addition, the Springfield, Ohio native joined Hall of Famer Tim Raines as the only leadoff hitters in Nationals franchise history to accomplish the feat. "Rock" logged the first historic contest for the Montreal Expos on August 16, 1987 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Led by their speedy outfielder, the Nationals swept the Atlanta Braves and enter the second week of the 2018 season with a 3-0 record.
Other noteworthy performances last week included Adam's teammate, three-time Cy Young Award-winner Max Scherzer (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6.0 IP, 10 SO); Blackmon (3 R, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 1.091 SLG); 2015 AL All-Star Lorenzo Cain (.571, 8 H, 3 RBI, 3 SB) of the Milwaukee Brewers; 2016 NL MVP Kris Bryant (.389, 4 R, 4 XBH, 4 RBI) of the Chicago Cubs; starting pitchers Kenta Maeda (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 5.0 IP, 10 SO) and Alex Wood (0.00 ERA, 8.0 IP, 5 SO, 1 H) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; shortstop Nick Ahmed (.455, 3 R, 3 XBH, 6 RBI) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; and two-time All-Star Johnny Cueto (0.00 ERA, 7.0 IP, 4 SO, 1 H) of the San Francisco Giants.
In recognition of his National League Player of the Week Award, Adam Eaton will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.