Minor Leaguer pulls off feat not seen in The Show since 1986

Minor Leaguer pulls off feat not seen in The Show since 1986

Nationals prospect notches uber-rare 4-hit, 4-RBI, 3-SB game at Single-A

April 18th, 2024

It’s often said that you never know when you’re going to see history when you walk into a ballpark. That much was true for those in attendance at Virginia Credit Union Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, and it was the kind of history that could go easily unnoticed, particularly in the rapture of the home club putting a pile of crooked numbers on the board en route to a 16-run showing.

Phillip Glasser had been a veritable hit machine for Single-A Fredericksburg coming into Wednesday’s eventual 16-7 win over Fayetteville, but he took things up a notch by recording a four-hit, four-RBI and three-steal showing -- something not done at the Major League level since June 10, 1986 (Joe Carter, Cleveland Indians).

Glasser started checking off boxes on his way to history out of the chute. He knocked a single in the first before adding a steal; he added a double in the second, an RBI groundout and a steal in the third and an RBI double and subsequent steal in the fourth. The cherry on top was a two-RBI double in the eighth that raised his average over eight games on the season to .441, tops on the Carolina League circuit.

While Glasser’s performance lacked the “traditional” milestone mystique, he accomplished what just three other full-season Minor Leaguers have dating back to 2005: Oneil Cruz, Altoona Curve (2021); Luis Aviles Jr., Carolina Mudcats (2017); Reggie Willits, Arkansas Travelers (2005). Only six Major Leaguers have reeled off a four-hit, four-RBI, three-SB game since 1901: Carter; Bob Dillinger, St. Louis Browns (1948); Lew Fonseca, Cleveland Indians (1929); Howard Freigau, St. Louis Cardinals (1924); Larry Gardner, Boston Red Sox (1911); Wid Conroy, Milwaukee Brewers (1901).

A 10th-round selection by the Nationals in the 2023 Draft out of Indiana, where he was awarded All-Conference honors as a senior, Glasser needed just 26 games into his pro ball odyssey to put himself into the pantheon of history, albeit in unique fashion.