Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto has been named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending July 2nd. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Votto posted a slash line of .524/.630/1.095 with six runs scored, three doubles, three home runs, six RBI, six walks and a stolen base over seven games to claim his fourth career NL Player of the Week Award, last winning on May 20, 2013. Among his NL counterparts, Joey finished the period first in first in slugging percentage; tied for first in hits (11), home runs, total bases (23) and walks; second in on-base percentage; tied for second in batting average; third in extra-base hits (6); tied for fourth in doubles; and tied for sixth in runs scored and RBI. This is Cincinnati's first weekly award since Votto's teammate Scooter Gennett garnered weekly honors earlier this season on June 12th, following his historic four-home run performance.
In the June 28th home tilt against the NL Central-rival Milwaukee Brewers, Votto reached base safely three times by way of the walk. In doing so, the 33-year-old tallied his 916th career free pass, surpassing Larry Walker (913) for the most walks in MLB history by a Canadian-born player. On June 29th against the Brewers at Great American Ball Park, the 2017 NL All-Star clubbed his first multi-home run game of the season, and the 13th of his career, the last coming on June 27th of last season against the Chicago Cubs. With his second round-tripper, the Toronto native reached 244 home runs for his career, matching George Foster for sixth on the club's all-time home run list. In addition, Votto's 23 home runs before the All-Star break establish a new career best, surpassing his previous mark of 22 homers set during his MVP Award-winning season in 2010. Entering play today, Votto has notched multi-hit efforts in each of his previous four contests, collecting a pair of doubles, as well as two home runs. Cincinnati's left-handed-hitting slugger posted his best month of 2017 in June, slashing .364/.452/.707 with 36 hits, 20 runs scored, seven doubles, nine home runs and 15 RBI.
Starting pitcher Max Scherzer (2-0, 0.69 ERA, 13.0 IP, 18 SO) also posted a deserving week for the Washington Nationals. In Max's second start of the week on Sunday night against the St. Louis Cardinals, the 2017 NL All-Star tossed 7.0 innings of shutout ball with 12 strikeouts. Dating back to his May 26th start, Scherzer has recorded at least 10 strikeouts in seven of eight outings, while holding the opposition scoreless in three starts. During his dominant stretch, the two-time Cy Young Award winner compiled a 6-2 record with a 0.89 ERA and 87 strikeouts over 61.0 innings pitched. Other noteworthy performances last week included Votto's Cincinnati teammate Adam Duvall (.375, 4 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI); shortstop Orlando Arcia (.524, 11 H, 3 HR) of the Brewers; middle infielder Chris Owings (.391, 5 2B, 3 HR, 6 RBI) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; and starting pitcher Michael Wacha (2-0, 0.75 ERA, 12.0 IP, 14 SO) of the Cardinals.
In recognition of his National League Player of the Week Award, Joey Votto will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.