Zimmerman named NL Player of the Month

By Mark Zuckerman

Nationals

May 03, 2017, 9:36am

Comments

Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman was officially recognized for his remarkable April this afternoon when he was named National League Player of the Month.

It was a worthy capper to a dominant month for Zimmerman, who entered the season facing major questions about his ability to bounce back from the worst year of his career and proceeded to put those questions to rest in emphatic fashion.

Ryan Zimmerman runs white.jpg Zimmerman ended April leading the majors in batting average (.420), homers (11), RBIs (29), hits (37), extra-base hits (19), slugging percentage (.886) and OPS (1.345).

He wasn't the only member of the Nationals lineup to put up big numbers in April - Bryce Harper hit .391 with nine homers, 26 RBIs, a league-best .509 on-base percentage and 32 runs scored - but Zimmerman was the best of the bunch.

That Zimmerman did this after a frustrating 2016 season in which he hit a career-worst .218 with 15 homers, 46 RBIs and a .642 OPS only adds to the impressive nature of his current feat.

Combining both good health for the first time in a long time and more of an emphasis on generating a greater launch angle on the balls he already was hitting hard last season, Zimmerman has been able to resurrect his career so far in 2017.

This is the first NL Player of the Month Award for Zimmerman in his career. He becomes the fourth member of the Nationals to be so honored. Previous NL Players of the Month include Jayson Werth (July 2013, July 2014), Harper (May 2015, April 2016) and Daniel Murphy (July 2016).