Ruiz Earns NL Player of the Week Honors

By Adam Berry, Phillies.com

After picking up only 10 hits in his first 14 games of the season, Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz has caught fire. On Monday, he was named the National League Player of the Week for his hot streak at the plate.

Ruiz led the Majors with a .500 average (11-for-22) and a .593 on-base percentage. He paced the NL with seven RBIs and tied for the league lead with 20 total bases in six games. The 35-year-old backstop ranked second in the NL with eight runs scored and a .909 slugging percentage and tied for second with 11 hits.

Ruiz, receiving his first career weekly award, also had five hits in his six at-bats with runners in scoring position last week.

Carlos Ruiz has been named NL Player of the Week after hitting .500 11-for-22.

“He’s just clutch,” Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said Sunday. “He’s using the whole field, and he’s big in situations. He’s just red-hot.”

Ruiz went 7-for-14 with four doubles, his first triple since 2010, a home run and six RBIs in the Phillies’ series win against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. His six extra-base hits in that four-game series were the most by any Major Leaguer in a single series this year and the most by a Philadelphia hitter since Jayson Werth equaled that total from Sept. 28-31, 2008.

Before getting the day off Sunday, Ruiz helped lead the Phillies to a 6-5 win on Saturday against the D-backs, finishing 3-for-4 with an RBI and a key contribution in Philadelphia’s four-run eighth inning.

Ruiz currently ranks second among NL catchers with eight doubles and third with a .296 average.