J.D.'s big week nets NL Player of Week honors

PHOENIX -- J.D. Martinez has carried the D-backs' offense with his home run surge over the past week.
The Arizona right fielder earned National League Player of the Week honors on Monday for a six-game span in which he hit .429 with seven homers and 11 RBIs. That included a four-homer game on Sept. 4 that was the first in D-backs franchise history, and the 18th in Major League history.
• Weekly award winners
"He's done a great job," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. "And when you're as locked in as he is and you're able to make adjustments and square up balls, it means you're doing a lot right. He studies, he pays attention. He works behind the scenes as hard as anybody that I've ever seen to make good moments happen and he deserves all that credit."
At Monday's end, Martinez's 23 homers since the All-Star break were the second most in the Majors, trailing only Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton, and 21 of them have come since he was acquired by the D-backs from the Tigers on July 18.

For an encore, he opened this week with a 3-for-4 performance in a 5-4 loss to the Rockies on Monday in which he doubled, drove home a run and stole a base. One of those, a single in the fourth inning that struck Colorado pitcher Kyle Freeland, left his bat at 115 mph, according to Statcast™.
But even with those gaudy numbers, the player that Arizona fans have begun calling "Just Dingers" has done more with his bat than just launch balls into the Chase Field bleachers.
Since he joined the D-backs, Martinez has led the Majors in barrell percentage. Since the start of the year, his barrel-per-plate-appearance percentage of 11.5 is the second-best in the Majors, behind only Aaron Judge (11.9). With a .367 on-base percentage with runners in scoring position during his time in Arizona, he has made an impact even when the ball isn't leaving the yard.
"He's been a very consistent hitter," Lovullo said. "Everybody's talking about the home runs, and we love those; those are instant runs and instant points. And in certain cases he's been doing what he's supposed to do per at-bat. Knowing what the at-bat is asking for. And he's got a series of approaches that can counter-punch every pitch or every type of area that the pitchers are trying to cover."
Still, D-backs fans and teammates don't mind the homers, either.
Martinez's second-inning shot on Sunday traveled a projected 466 feet, according to Statcast™, and left his bat at 112.8 mph, making it the hardest-hit homer by a D-backs player this season.

"I feel like he's definitely a top three guy who barrels the ball more than anybody in the league," said pitcher Taijuan Walker, who hit a 455-foot shot of his own earlier this season. "He just has such a nice, smooth swing. He really doesn't try to do too much and just stays within himself, and that's what you get."
The award is Martinez's fifth career Player of the Week honor, the others all coming while he was with the Tigers. It's Martinez's third weekly honor this year; he was named American League Player of the Week for the weeks of May 21 and July 16.