Miami Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto has been named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending April 9th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Realmuto hit .500 (11-for-22) with six runs scored, a double, one triple, two home runs and six RBI over five games to earn his first career Player of the Week Award. Among his NL counterparts, J.T. finished the week first in batting average, slugging percentage (.909) and on-base percentage (.542); tied for second in hits and total bases (20); and tied for fourth in runs scored.
Realmuto logged four consecutive multi-hit games to begin the season, matching Jeff Conine (1993) for the second-longest streak in Marlins history. Emilio Bonifacio holds the club record with five such games, which he accomplished in 2009. On Thursday afternoon at Nationals Park, Realmuto, who was drafted by the Marlins in the third round of the 2010 MLB Draft, collected three hits, including his second home run in as many days. The 26-year-old backstop reached base safely four times in the Marlins' 4-3 extra-inning win over the Nationals, driving in two runs and scoring twice, including the go-ahead run in the 10th inning. Among Marlins catchers in franchise history, Realmuto is tied with 2016 Hall of Fame electee Ivan Rodriguez for the second-most consecutive games with a hit to begin a season (5). Paul Lo Duca logged a hit in six straight games in 2004 (July 31st-August 10th) and 2005 (April 5th-April 10th), and Mike Redmond tallied a hit in six straight contests as well in 2004 (April 6th-April 18th). Entering play today, Realmuto's 11 hits are most among Major League catchers, while Boston's Sandy Leon, Kansas City's Salvador Perez and San Francisco's Buster Posey have each recorded seven hits.
Greg Holland of the Colorado Rockies converted save opportunities in each of Colorado's first two games of the season, becoming the first closer to accomplish the feat in franchise history. Holland, who missed the entire 2016 campaign because of Tommy John surgery, has not allowed a hit or run yet, and paces the Majors with four saves. On Opening Day, Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants became the first pitcher to hit two home runs and strike out at least 10 batters in a game since Rick Wise did so for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1971. Bumgarner, who fanned 16 batters over 15.0 innings pitched last week, also became the first pitcher in MLB history to hit two homers in his team's first game of the season. Other noteworthy performances included Greg's teammate Mark Reynolds (.346, 3 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI); Paul Goldschmidt (.346, 8 R, 5 XBH, 2 SB) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; Yangervis Solarte (.370, 10 H, 4 XBH, 8 RBI) of the San Diego Padres; and Noah Syndergaard (1-0, 0.69 ERA, 13.0 IP, 16 SO, 0 BB) of the New York Mets.
In recognition of his National League Player of the Week Award, J.T. Realmuto will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.