The hitter who refused to strike out, Witt's 30-30 season among stats of the week

September 20th, 2024

Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (Sept. 13-19).

JULIOOOO: On Friday, Julio Rodríguez became one of two players in MLB history with at least 75 homers and 75 stolen bases in the first three seasons of his career, along with Bobby Witt Jr. Rodríguez had three base hits at 111+ mph in the game. That’s tied for the most by a player in a game under Statcast (2015), and it’s the 13th time it has happened. The only other Mariner to do so was Nelson Cruz on April 28, 2018, and Sept. 14, 2017.

Skenes Day: Through his 21st career start on Monday, Paul Skenes has 158 strikeouts. That’s the fifth-most by any player in his first 21 career appearances since at least 1901, trailing only 1995 Hideo Nomo (188), 1998 Kerry Wood (185), 2002-03 Mark Prior (166) and 1984 Dwight Gooden (165). Skenes has a 2.07 ERA, the second-lowest ERA in a pitcher’s first 21 career appearances (all starts) since earned runs became official in both leagues in 1913, behind only 1973-74 Steve Rogers’ 1.95.

K him if you can: Luis Arraez went 141 plate appearances without a strikeout, before finally doing so on Monday. That’s the third-longest streak of consecutive PA without striking out since 2000, per Elias. He trails only 2004 Juan Pierre (147) and 2001 Pierre (143). If you’re curious, the record in the expansion era (1961) is 223, by 1976 Dave Cash.

Bobby baseball: On Tuesday, Witt registered the seventh 30-homer, 30-SB season by a shortstop in MLB history. He also did so last season, making him the first shortstop to do so twice. And he’s just 24 years old. Witt is the first player with multiple 30-30 seasons through his age-24 season -- at any position.

High velocity: Ian Happ homered Tuesday off a 103.2 mph pitch, the fastest pitch hit for a home run under pitch tracking (2008). The prior fastest hit pitch for a homer was 102.9 mph by Josh Bell on Aug. 2 this season. Before this year, the record had been 102.8 mph by Rafael Devers on Aug. 13, 2017.

Polar bear: Pete Alonso had five RBIs on Tuesday, his 10th career game with at least five RBIs. That is tied for the most such games in MLB since the start of 2019, with Nelson Cruz. It’s also tied for most in Mets history with David Wright.

Bye bye baby: Mike Yastrzemski hit a leadoff home run for the Giants on Tuesday, then did the same on Wednesday. He became the fourth player in Giants’ franchise history with a leadoff HR in consecutive team games, joining Dan Gladden (Oct. 1-2, 1985), Bobby Bonds (June 5-6, 1973) and Whitey Lockman (July 18-19, 1953), per Elias.

The Generational: With the Yankees clinching a playoff berth on Wednesday, Juan Soto will be the first player in MLB history to appear in a postseason game for three different teams before turning 27 years old. He’s just 25, and will be the youngest to do this by more than a year. He will pass Jason Heyward (27 y, 59 d) on Oct 7, 2016 for the Cubs (previously ATL, STL), per Elias.

Shotime: Shohei Ohtani created the 50-50 club in dramatic fashion on Thursday. He went 6-for-6 on the day, with two doubles, three home runs, 10 RBIs, two stolen bases and 17 total bases. It was the first three-homer game in MLB history in which the player also had multiple stolen bases. He was also the first player with at least five extra-base hits and multiple stolen bases in a game since at least 1901.

Current Ironman: Matt Olson has played 611 consecutive games entering Friday, dating to May 2, 2021. There have been only seven other streaks of at least 600 to begin in the divisional era (1969), per Elias. They belong to 1982-98 Cal Ripken Jr. (2,632 consecutive games), 1975-83 Steve Garvey (1,207), 2000-07 Miguel Tejada (1,152), 1978-83 Pete Rose (745), 1981-86 Dale Murphy (740), 1973-78 Rose (678) and 1969-73 Sandy Alomar Sr. (661).