Week 23: Kolten Wong

Kolten Wong in literally my favorite baseball photo this week.

Kolten Wong is know for his excellent defense.

Check out this play he made earlier today.



Last week, Wong also put up some really big numbers on offense. He went 11 for 16 at the plate with 3 runs, 6 RBIs, a .688 batting average, and 2.049 OPS. He had 2 stolen bases to boot.

Wong hit "only" one home run last week which was his tenth of the season. This year, when everyone his hitting dingers left and right, it's easy to overlook a player like Wong who is having a very good year at the plate but isn't hitting tons of homers.

We here at MLBoyfriend pride ourselves on recognizing players that other might overlook. Especially when they look like Kolten Wong.

Week 22: Dakota Hudson

Dakota Hudson did this on Monday, August 19:



That's right, before he was pulled from the game, Hudson had a no-hitter going through 6.2 innings. You can argue that his stats were not that great that game--the 7 strikeouts were good, but he gave up 4 walks and the ball was put into play 13 times against him. Still, pitching a no-no in 6+ innings is impressive.

Then, on Saturday, August 24, Hudson threw another gem:



That's right, Hudson pitched 6.0 scoreless innings.

In less than a week, Hudson pitched12.2 innings, gave up just 2 hits, and 7 walks, while throwing 9 strike outs, He had a 0.00 ERA and 0.71 WHIP for the week and had 2 wins in 2 quality starts. That's a very good week for a pitcher.

As if his stats last week weren't enough to win the MLBoyfriend title, Dakota Hudson has several other qualifications for the title.

Week 21: Gleyber Torres

Let's all welcome Gleyber Torres back to MLBoyfriend. He definitely had a noteworthy week last week with 10 runs, 6 home runs, 11 RBIs, a .323 average, and 1.318 OPS.

Torres managed to set a couple of records along the way. On Monday, August 12, he hit his 11th, 12th, and 13th home run against the Baltimore Orioles this season. Thirteen is the most any player has hit against one team in a season since the divisional era began in 1969. It's the second most in MLB history after Lou Gehrig's 1936 record of hitting 14 homers against Cleveland; however, Gehrig had 23 games against Cleveland to hit his 14, and the Yankees have only played 16 games against the Orioles this year.

Then, on Saturday, August 25, Torres hit two solo homers against Cleveland, making him the youngest player ever to hit multiple home runs in 7 games in one season. For the record, he was 22 years and 247 days old the day he set that record. Even in this season of young hitters dominating at the plate, that's really young.

Week 20: Cody Bellinger

 

I chose Cody Bellinger to be my MLBoyfriend on Monday simply because it was bizarre that I hadn't done so earlier. He didn't have a particularly good week last week, but he has been having an amazing season--especially in the spring.

Then, life got in the way, and I didn't get around to writing this post until tonight which is Thursday. I'm glad I waited because he made a good case for himself just a couple of hours ago: Cody Bellinger became the first player to hit 40 home runs this season.  He did it style with a monster, three-run blast.



Not entirely coincidentally, this happened:

Cody Bellinger is the new MLB home run leader, setting a career high with his 40th of the year. The Dodgers are also the first team since at least 1908 to hit 4+ homers in four straight games. https://t.co/46MuOs89N0

— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) August 15, 2019

I don't really have much to add to that except to say that I really enjoyed doing my "photo research" on Cody Bellinger. So, now, I'm just going to post some pics of Bellinger with little-to-no comment.

Cody Bellinger is really pretty.

He also has a really pretty swing.

Bellinger is an outfielder,
and I'm a sucker for pics of leaping catches.

It took two security guards to pry this teen girl off Bellinger
after she got onto the field and hugged him. Even though she
was arrested, she said it was the best day of her life.
She is my new hero.

I mean... come  on...

Week 19: Nelson Cruz

It may seem that I'm a little late in selecting Nelson Cruz as my MLBoyfriend since he was named the American League Player of the Week last week. His stats may have been a bit better the week before, but his 5 runs, 4 home runs, 10 RBIs, .500 average, and 2.267 OPS last week are still really great numbers.

On Saturday, August 3, Cruz had a hell of a game that showed why he's the head of the Twins Bomba Squad. He hit 3 home runs in the Minnesota's win over Kansas City.



That was not only Cruz's second 3-home-run game of the season, it was his second 3-home-run game in 10 days.

Cruz big night was historic for a few reasons. He is the first Twin to hit 3 home runs in two games in one season, and, at 39, the oldest player to do so in MLB history.

On top of all that, his 3rd home run that night was the 30th Cruz hit this season. The Twins tweeted out this fact about his pretty amazing career.

Nelson Cruz has 6 straight seasons with 30 home runs. Only 3 other active players are on the list:

Albert Pujols (12, 2001-12)
Miguel Cabrera (7, 2007-2013)
Edwin Encarnacion (8, 2012-present) #CruzControl pic.twitter.com/sZwVqQ2anZ

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 4, 2019

So, yeah, that was a pretty great night for Nelson Cruz.

Week 18: Asher Wojciechowski

 

Sure, last week's MLBoyfriend had a long, difficult last name. However, most baseball fans know how to pronounce Yaztrzemski even if there's not a chance in Hell that they could spell it. I decided to really up the ante this week with Asher Wojciechowski. Actually, I chose him because he pitched to great games for the Baltimore Orioles last week.

On Sunday, July 21, Wojciechowski pitched 7.1 innings against the formidable Boston Red Sox. He struck out 10 batters but gave up just 1 hit, 2 walks, and 0 earned runs. He was scored with both the win and a quality start. Impressively, he had a no–hitter into the seventh inning.



Wojciechowski pitched another gem seven days later on Friday, July 26.  He went 7 full innings against the Los Angeles Angels. In that game, he gave up 3 hits, one walk and just 2 earned runs while striking out 6. He had his second quality start and win for the week.

So, in one week, Wojciechowski pitched 14.1 innings, and had a very low 1.26 ERA and 0.49 WHIP. 

Those two wins were almost enough for Asher Wojciechowski to win the MLBoyfriend title. However, I have to say, his name really did put him over the top for a couple of reasons.

Week 17: Mike Yastrzemski

When I saw the news that rookie Mike Yaztrzemski hit his first walk-off home run in the majors yesterday, I thought, "How cool that Carl Yaztrzemski has a son playing baseball." 

It took a while to sink in that a player that I can easily remember playing—I was able to drive when he retired—has a grandson playing for the San Francisco Giants. 

Yaz was famously old for a baseball player (a whopping 44!) when he retired, but still...