Bryce Harper

Sometimes, you just have to go with an old favorite. Bryce Harper has already won the MLBoyfriend title five times. That seems like a lot of wins, but really, he's been one of the best players in baseball for the nine years this blog has been going.

Last week, Harper went 8 for 25 at the plate with 2 doubles and 3 home runs giving him a .320 average and 1.229 OPS. He scored 8 runs and batted in 9. He also had one stolen base.

Of course, all posts about Bryce Harper must contain one photo of his magnificent hair. Apparently, he is mentoring teammate Alex Bohm on the art of the flow.

Congratulations, Bryce Harper! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Kyle Schwarber

Kyle Schwarber hit 5 home runs last week, and while doing that, he set a couple of records.

On Tuesday, September 3, Schwarber hit 3 home runs in one game. This was his second three-homer game this season. He is the first Philly ever to have multiple three-home-run games.

The next day, Schwarber hit his 13th lead-off home of the season--tying the record for the most lead-off home runs in a single season. 

Schwarber put up some excellent numbers beyond the 5 home runs. He ended the week with a .462 batting average, a massive 1.654 OPS, 9 runs, and 11 RBI.

Cogratulations, Kyle Schwarber! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Ranger Suárez

One month into the season, it seemed about time to feature a pitcher. Ranger Suárez was clearly the best starting pitcher last week. On Monday, April 22, he went 7 full innings against the Cincinnati Reds giving up just 2 hits and 1 walk with no earned runs while striking out 5. Then, on Saturday, April 27, against the San Diego Padres, he went 8 full innings--striking out 8 and giving up 3 hits, zero walks and just 1 earned run.

For the week, Suárez had 2 wins and a 0.60 ERA of 0.60 and 0.38 WHIP. It has to be said, that these stats are actually in line with his start to the season. So far this year, he has had six starts, pitched 41.0 innings with 5 wins and 0 losses. He has struck out 40 batters while walking just 5, and his ERA is a very low 1.32 with an equally impressive 0.63 WHIP. So, he's not just the best starting pitcher of the past week--but also of 2024 so far.

Also, you'd never know it while he's pitching, Ranger has a pretty great head of hair under that baseball cap. It's like a modern pompadour.

Congratulations, Ranger Suárez! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Trea Turner

It's nice to see an old favorite have a good week. Trea Turner was among the first class of MLBoyfriend winners. Eight years later, he's still going strong.

Turner has had a good start to the season by any metric. So far, he has a .348 batting average and .750 OPS. Last week, he hit the gas going 12 for 26 at the plate for a .462 batting average and 1.250 OPS. He had 10 runs, 5 doubles, 1 home run, 4 RBI. Those stats were good enough to earn him the National League Player of the Week title.

Congratulations, Trea Turner! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Nick Castellanos

Nick Castellanos had a .375 average last week with 9 hits in 24 at bats including 1 double, 1 triple, and 5 home runs. He had 6 runs and batted in 11. 

All those hits gave photographers plenty of chances to get pictures of Castellanos looking very good running the bases with a button or two undone on his jersey as is his wont. FYI: I know Nick's wife, Jess, put out a plea to stop focusing on his open collar, but she specifically addressed it to the "ladies"--so I'm good (well, good-ish).

On Wednesday, September 20, Castellanos was clearly the MVP for the Phillies. He hit two home runs and also made an amazing throw to home to keep Atlanta from scoring the game winning run and put the game into extra innings.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by phillies (@phillies)

Ok, maybe the smarter play is to let that ball drop in foul territory. However, all is forgiven because Philadelphia went on to win the game and Castellanos looks like this:

Congratulations, Nick Castellanos! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Bobby Witt Jr.

Bobby Witt Jr. had a very good week at the plate last week. He had a whopping .450 average with 9 hits in 20 at bats--and an even more impressive .500 OPB. He had 1 home run, 4 RBI and 6 runs.

Witt also had 6 stolen bases last week--the most of any player in Major League Baseball. Since 2023 has been the season of stolen bases (due in large part to MLB rule changes), it seemed like I should get around to recognizing that stat in my pick.

I also don't recognize defense enough in selecting my MLBoyfriend mostly because the stats on it are hard to find on a week-to-week basis. However, Witt is excellent on defense and there's a strong case for him winning the Golden Glove this year.

Finally, flowing locks on a base runner is a good way to get my attention. Witt has a good flow going.

Congratulations, Bobby Witt Jr! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

PS: I'd like to give a shout out to this week's runner up for the MLBoyfriend prize, two-time past winner, Trea Turner. He also had a great week at the plate with 11 hits in 31 at bats for a .355 average with 2 doubles and 2 home runs. He scored 6 runs and batted in 5. 

If I'm being honest, it wasn't his numbers that made me pay attention to Trea this past week, it was the Instagram algorithm. Posts about him kept showing up in my feed--even though I don't follow him or the Phillies. To be fair, they are pretty impressive stats.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by MLB on FOX (@mlbonfox)

Speaking of stolen bases...

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pitcherclips ⚾️ (@pitcherclips)

Bryce Harper

This year, I've been trying to feature new faces here. Sometimes, however, I can't help but give a shout out to an old favorite. Bryce Harper made it very easy to pick him this week.

Harper had 12 hits in 23 at-bats giving him an impressive .522 average. He scored 6 runs and had 10 RBI. He had 3 home runs including one inside-the-park which is always fun to watch.

No Bryce Harper post would be complete without some admiration of his flowing locks. Fortunately, his helmet came off as he was rounding the bases for his inside-the-park home run. So, there are lots of pictures of his glorious mane.

Congratulations, Bryce Harper! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Michael Lorenzen

Michael Lorenzen threw a no-hitter on Wednesday, August 9th. However, a no-no does not guarantee an MLBoyfried title. Lorenzen only struck out 5 batters during the game, and the rest of the outs were made by the excellent fielding of his Phillies teammates.

There are two facts about Lorenzen's performance that secured the MLBoyfriend title for him. First, instead of standard cleats, he was wearing Vans. They did have cleats added to them, but other than that they were just regular, white Vans.

This is the only time a star athlete and I have had the same taste in shoes. I own 3 pairs of Vans including this super cute pair I was wearing earlier today.

Lorenzen's Vans--despite being less being less snazzy than mine--are headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jomboy Media (@jomboymedia)

The second fact about Lorenzen's no-hitter that caught my attention is kind of mind blowing. Lorenzen graduated from Fullerton High School in California. That school has had three other graduates go on to become major league pitchers: Walter Johnson, Steve Busby, and Mike Warren. All three of those pitchers threw a no-hitter during their careers. (Busby actually threw 2 no-no's for the Kansas City Royals.) Lorenzen's no-no means Fullerton High is now 4-for-4. Very impressive.

Finally, the Instagram algorithm clearly wanted me to pick Lorenzen this week. Here are just a few of the posts it suggested for me. (By the way, sorry/not sorry about the repeat images of Lorenzen's backside. Is it possible to embed an Instagram post with something other than the first slide showing up?)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by phillies (@phillies)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Baseballer (@thebsblr)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by phillies (@phillies)

Congratulations, Michael Lorenzen! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week. Also, thank you for giving me a reason to post one of my favorite things in the world--pictures of a pitcher and catcher celebrating after a no-hitter.