Monday, June 23, 2025

Cal Raleigh

Cal Raleigh has been on my radar for pretty much the entire season. He has had several very good weeks, but this was probably his best yet.


Last week, Raleigh went 10 for 24 at the plate for a .417 batting average. He had a 1.606 OPS with 2 doubles and 5 home runs. Along the way, he scored 10 runs and batted in 12. Oh yeah,he also stole a base twice.

Here are a few milestones Raleigh achieved in this week:

  • He has the most home runs (32) of any player this season;

It's no surprise that Raleigh was named the American League Player of the Week, or that that there is serious discussion of him being named the AL MVP this year. All of that would be more than enough for Raleigh to win the MLBoyfriend title. The cherry on top of the cake (and I do mean cake, not sundae) is that his nickname is the Big Dumper. How he got that sobriquet is no mystery.






Congratulations, Cal Raleigh! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.


Monday, June 16, 2025

Kiké Hernández


The last time Kiké Hernández won the MLBoyfriend title, it was not because of his performance on this field but because of his flirtatious social media posts. 


This week, Hernández won the title with the worst batting stats an MLBoyfriend has ever had. In 10 at-bats, he had a 0.00 batting average--literally the worst possible. 


Hernández also stepped in as a relief pitcher last week, but the less said about that, the better.


Social media is again reason Kiké won the title this week. However, this time it's not because he was being silly and sexy. Instead, he was serious when he spoke about about the terrible impact ICE raids are having on Los Angeles. (Be sure to scroll through and read his message.)

Congratulations, Kiké Hernández! You are my MLBoyfiend of the week.

Monday, June 9, 2025

Ketel Marte


How is it possible that Ketel Marte has never been named MLBoyfriend before today? He's been a very good player all nine years this blog has existed.


Marte also has some of the best hair in baseball.


Better late than never, I guess. Marte has finally won the honor he so deserves.


Last week, Marte had a .400 batting average and 1.538 OPS. 4 of his 8 hits were home runs. He scored 6 runs and batted in 8.

Congratulations, Ketel Marte! You are my MLBoyfriend of the Week.

Monday, June 2, 2025

Christian Yelich


Christian Yelich is one of perhaps a dozen players that I'm always hoping has a good week, so I have a reason to name him my MLBoyfriend. He has won the title twice, but the last time was in 2019--more on that later.

Yelich had two great games last week. On Tuesday, May 27, he hit a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning. I was a little surprised to learn that it was the first walk-off home run of his career--I guess he was waiting until he could go really big.

Then, on Friday, May 30, Yelich went 3 for 5 including 2 home runs. He scored 2 runs that game and batted in 4. 

Yelich ended the week with a .500 batting average, 1.545 OPS, 5 runs, 3 home runs, 9 RBI and 1 stolen base. Those numbers were impressive enough to earn him the National League Player of the Week title. They also happen to be better than the last time he won the MLBoyfriend title; however, in 2019, Yelich won extra points by modeling in ESPN Magazine's dearly departed Body Issue.


Congratulations, Christian Yelich! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.



Monday, May 26, 2025

Tarik Skubal


If you just look at his seven-day stats, Tarik Skubal had a very good, but not great week last week. He pitched 14.2 innings and had a 1.84 ERA and 0.55 WHIP.


Skubal's first outing of the week on Tuesday, May 20, was inauspicious in terms of winning the MLBoyfriend title. He pitched 5.2 innings giving up 5 hits, 1 walk and 3 earned runs for a 0.55 WHIP and 4.76 ERA.

Then, in his second start of the week on Sunday, May 25, Skubal threw a Maddux--meaning he pitched 9 full innings and shut out the other team in few than 100 pitches.

In the first complete game of his career, Skubal gave up only 2 hits and 0 walks (0.22 WHIP) while striking out 13 batters. Of course, his ERA for a shut-out was 0.00 and he definitely earned a win. To guild the lily, Skubal's final pitch was a 102.6 mph strike--which is insane (and possibly record-breaking) for so many reasons.


Check out some of the highlights of Skubal's amazing performance here:

Congratulations, Tarik Skubal! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.



Monday, May 19, 2025

Pete Crow-Armstrong


Pete Crow-Armstrong has been having the kind of season where he's under consideration for MLBoyfriend every week. Now, his week has finally come.


Crow-Armstrong had an amazing .458 batting average and 1.379 OPS last week. He hit a double, 2 triples and 2 home runs while scoring 5 runs and batting in 10.

Congratulations, Pete Crown-Armstrong! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Monday, May 12, 2025

Byron Buxton


My hometown team, The Minnesota Twins, usually dominate my MLBoyfriend picks. This year, their mediocre start has kept them out of contention. However, they have turned things on in the past week--winning 8 straight games--so, it's finally time to give one of them the honor.


Byron Buxton really shined last week and reminded me why he has wound up on this blog so often. But, before I get to him, I'd like to mention Jhoan Duran was a strong runner-up for the title. The Twins' closer pitched in 4 games last week and scored 1 win and 3 saves. He struck out 6 batters and gave up only 1 hit and 1 walk. For the week, Duran had a 0.50 WHIP and a 0.00 ERA.


As great as Duran was, I think Buck was the catalyst that really got the Twins offense going.


Last week, Buxton had .286 batting average, a 0.880 OPS. Of his 6 hits, he had 1 double, 1 triple and 2 home runs. He scored 6 runs. All very respectable, but not the usual MLBoyfriend level of hitting stats. 


The number that won Buxton the title was that he had 8 RBI. For the 2025 season, the Twins have been in the lower-middle of the rankings for runs scored (18th) and RBI (17th). Last week, they were 8th in both stats. When a team starts batting in and scoring more runs, generally, they win more.


Congratulations, Byron Buxton! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week. It's nice to see you celebrating with your teammate and runner-up MLBoyfriend, Jhoan Duran.

Monday, May 5, 2025

Riley Greene

Before I get into the stats, let me start by saying Riley Greene is one of the most handsome players in MLB today. I mean...

However, looks alone will not win the MLBoyfriend of the Week title. You've got to put up some numbers too.


Greene went 13 for 28 at the plate for a .464 average and 1.393 OPS last week. He scored 7 runs and batted in 8. 

Of the 4 home runs Greene hit during the week, 2 of them were not only in the same game, but also in the same inning! In fact, on Friday, May 2, he became the first player in MLB history to hit 2 homers in the 9th inning of a game.


Congratulations, Riley Greene! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.