Charlie Blackmon Named National League Player of the Week

Charlie Blackmon lived up to his moniker of Chuck Nazty last week, and Major League Baseball representatives around the country noticed.

Blackmon, the bearded, outstanding leadoff hitter and center fielder for the Colorado Rockies, was named National League Player of the Week for the period ending June 26.

In seven games last week, Blackmon led the Majors with five home runs, 14 hits, and 30 total bases, while tying for the Major League lead with nine RBI. He also ranked among MLB leaders in slugging (1st, .909), runs scored (2nd, 9), hitting (8th, .424), and on-base percentage (9th, .472).

Blackmon is currently hitting .304 on the season, which ranks sixth among qualifying NL outfielders.

“It’s awesome. Charlie can be real streaky. I think it’s great that he’s getting recognition for the type of season that he’s having,” said Colorado manager Walt Weiss. “He’s having a great year, maybe a little under the radar nationally but he’s having an outstanding year. He’s one of several guys on our team who you could make a case for them being in the All-Star Game.”

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It was a hit parade kind of week for Blackmon, who totaled hits in each of his seven games last week and had multi-hit performances in six of those contests.

In Sunday’s series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chuck Nazty helped push the Rockies to a 9-7 victory to earn a split of a four-game set at Coors Field with a 2-for-4 performance, which included his 12th home run of the season.

He also collected a pair of hits and blasted a home run in Saturday’s 11-6 win over the Diamondbacks. Blackmon’s leadoff homer marked his franchise-record fifth leadoff home run of the season and 17th of his career. His 17 career leadoff round-trippers are currently tied with Curtis Granderson for the most by a Major Leaguer since 2013.

On Tuesday, Blackmon tied a career high (four times) by homering twice in Colorado’s 8-4 win over the New York Yankees, becoming the first-ever Rockies player to have a multi-homer performance at Yankee Stadium.

“He’s a dual threat at the top of the order,” Weiss said. “As far as power, speed and he’s really worked hard and taken a lot of pride in getting on base and creating runs for us. He just continues to get better.”

Next: Despite Power Surge, Blackmon Shrugs Off Homer Binge

This is Charlie Blackmon’s third career Player of the Week honor. He also earned POW kudos from September 16-22, 2013 and March 31-April 6, 2014.