Monday, May 30, 2022

Gabe Kapler

Gabe Kapler is clearly this week's MLBoyfriend. The San Francisco Giants manager earned the title not for traditional baseball success but for showing true leadership. On Friday, May 27th, Kapler retweeted a PSA by the Anti-Defamation League in which he's featured.

That same day, Kapler announced that he would not be standing for the National Anthem in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas:

When I was the same age as the children in Uvalde, my father taught me to stand for the pledge of allegiance when I believed my country was representing its people well or to protest and stay seated when it wasn’t. I don’t believe it is representing us well right now.

Please click here to read the whole post. It is thoughtful and heartfelt. 


Kapler will be standing for the National Anthem today in honor of Memorial Day. He has posted a statement explaining why he is making an exception to his ongoing protest.

Today, I’ll be standing for the anthem. While I believe strongly in the right to protest and the importance of doing so, I also believe strongly in honoring and mourning our country’s service men and women who fought and died for that right. Those who serve in our military, and especially those who have paid the ultimate price for our rights and freedoms, deserve that acknowledgment and respect, and I am honored to stand on the line today to show mine.

Congratulations, Gabe Kapler! You are the MLBoyfriend of the week. Thank you for your being the kind of leader baseball and the country need right now.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Monday, May 23, 2022

Martín Pérez

Pitchers don't have to throw two great games in a week to win the MLBoyfriend title, but it helps. Martín Pérez earns the prize after his two quality starts led to two wins last week.

On May 15, Pérez pitched 6.0 innings giving up just one run on 5 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 7 and got his first win of the week. 


I try to avoid silly baseball slang here, but I couldn't resist this headline: Rangers' Martín Pérez Twirls Shutout. Twirling sounds like something you'd do at a rave not on the mound. Anyway... Pérez threw a complete game on May 21 giving up 8 hits and 1 walk but 0 runs in the 9 innings. 


At the end of the week, with 15.0 innings pitched, Pérez had a very impressive 0.60 ERA and 1.07 WHIP. As if those 2 wins and stats weren't enough, he also had a few other things going for him. First, he posted great recaps of the games on Instagram:

Next thing in Pérez's favor is that he chews bubble gum--which has proven to be the way to my heart in the past.

Last, but certainly not least, this is how Pérez appeared in his post-game interviews last week:



Congratulations Martín Pérez, you are my MLBoyfriend of the week! FWIW, your performance last week got me to add you to my fantasy baseball team as well. So, you'll be seeing a lot more of me as your pretend manager this season.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Monday, May 16, 2022

Jean Segura

Jean Segura's biggest competition for the MLBoyfriend title this week came from his teammate, Bryce Harper. Even though Harper's numbers were slightly better last week, I chose to go with Segura for two reasons. First, Harper has already been my MLBoyfriend three times, and I am trying to get some fresh faces on the blog. Speaking of faces, that brings us to the second reason.....

Don't get me wrong. Segura had some great stats last week. He had a .478 batting average and 1.615 OPS with 4 home runs, 8 RBIs, 10 runs and 2 stolen bases. But also, this:

I'm just going to leave this Instagram post here as my final piece of evidence.

Congratulations, Jean Segura! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week. When you celebrate with your teammate Bryce, make sure to tell him not to worry--I still love him.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Monday, May 9, 2022

Josh Winder


I'm sure in the entire history of the MLB, someone may have had a better first week as a starting pitcher than Josh Winder had last week. However, his first outing was as good as or better than many from this list of "Best Debuts in Baseball History". On May 1st, Winder threw 6 scoreless innings in his first career start. He struck out 7 batter and gave up only 2 hits and 1 walk.

Then, on May 6th, Winder threw another humdinger of a game in his second career start. He went another 6 innings with no runs scored, 8 strikeouts, only 3 hits and no walks. 

Winder ended the week with 2 wins, 2 quality starts, a 0.00 ERA and 0.72 WHIP. I think it's clear he had the best week of any starting pitcher--much less rookie pitcher.

Even though those were the first two starts of his career, Winder had made some appearances earlier in the season as a relief pitcher. His stats for the season are pretty impressive. In 22.1 innings pitched he has a 1.61 ERA and a 0.72 WHIP.

Congratulations, Josh Winder! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week. Thanks for throwing such great games for my Twinkies.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Monday, May 2, 2022

Anthony Rizzo

I try to keep an eye out for fresh faces to highlight here, but when an old favorite is on a hot streak, I have to show respect. Anthony Rizzo has had himself quite a week last week and earned his fourth MLBoyfriend title.

Last week, Rizzo had a .346 batting average and 1.414 OPS with 7 hits and 11 RBIs. All very respectable stats, but the real news is his home run streak. He hit 5 homers last week--more than any other MLB player--and 3 of those came in the same game on April 27. 

It's early days yet, but as of now, Anthony Rizzo is the MLB home run leader for the season with 9 so far. He has definitely quieted the doubts many Yankees fans had about him going into the season. Of course, he has also looked great doing it.



Congratulations, Anthony Rizzo, you are my MLBoyfriend of the week. I expect you will be celebrating with your teammate and MLBoyfriend favorite, Aaron Judge.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)