Zimmerman named NL Player of the Month for April

On the heels of his first National League Player of the Week award since 2012, Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman continued his early-season haul with the National League Player of the Month award for April. Major League Baseball made the announcement on MLB Network. Zimmerman, who set a Nationals record (2005-present) for RBI in a month with 29, entered May hitting .420 and leading the Major Leagues in batting average, slugging percentage (.886), RBI (29), OPS (1.345), home runs (T1st, 11), hits (37), and extra-base hits (1st, 19), while ranking second in multi-hit games (T2nd, 12). With 11 home runs in the season's first month, Zimmerman set the franchise record for home runs in the month of March/April, and tied his own career best for home runs in any single month. The 11 home runs marked Zimmerman's first calendar month with that many longballs since September 2013, when he also hit 11. The month was also one in which Zimmerman moved his way up multiple franchise leaderboards (Nationals/Expos), passing Hall of Fame players in the process. On April 19, Zimmerman passed Andre Dawson to move into second on the franchise's all-time RBI list with 840. By month's end, he had increased that total to 858. On April 23, the Nationals' first baseman moved past Hall of Famer Gary Carter for third on the franchise's all-time home run list, and on April 28, he moved into second place on that same list, passing Dawson with his 226th career home run. The first pick the Nationals ever made in the draft (No. 4 overall, 2005), Zimmerman holds the Nationals (2005-present) records for games (1,433), runs (815), hits (1,542), doubles (346), home runs (226), RBI (858), and walks (545). He opens play on Wednesday just 10 home runs away from taking over first place on the franchise's all-time home run list (Vladimir Guerrero, 235). This is the first National League Player of the Month award of Zimmerman's career. The Nationals' longest-tenured player joins teammates Jayson Werth (July 2013; July 2014), Bryce Harper (May 2015; April 2016), and Daniel Murphy (May & July 2016) as Nationals honorees of the league's monthly award.