Randy Arozarena

I have been sleeping on Randy Arozarena, but my eyes are open now. 

Arozarena hit his 100th career home run on Monday, June 30. He went on to hit another later in that game, and ended the week with 6 homers--the most in MLB last week.

Arozarena had a .346 batting average and 1.371 OPS for the week. He scored 6 runs and batted in 9. 

Even with those great stats, Arozarena had to battle off some fierce competition for the MLBoyfriend title this week:

• Trevor Story who had an excellent week with a .480 batting average and 1.460 OPS would have been the sentimental pick because he was the first MLBoyfriend ever;
• The NL Player of the Week, Michael Busch, put up some truly incredible numbers with a .565 batting average and 1.789 OPS; and
• On Sunday, July 6, Zach Wheeler pitched a complete game that was one hit away from being a perfect game.

So, what do I do when several players have really good weeks? How do I pick an MLBoyfriend? I'll put it this way: I choose the player that will give me the best pics to post.

Congratulations, Randy Arozarena! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

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;

• He has the most home runs by a catcher before the All-Star break in MLB history--and the All-Star break is 3 weeks away; and

• He has the most home runs by a switch-hitter before the All-Star break in MLB history (see above).

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.

Julio Rodriguez

Julio Rodriguez was named the American League Player of Week for last week--and with good reason. 

From Wednesday, August 16th, to Saturday, August 19th, Rodiriguez set the MLB record for the most hits scored in 4 consecutive games--with 17! He also set a record for the Seattle Mariners franchise by hitting 10 hits in 10 at-bats. Here's the last 4 hits that set those records.

Rodiriguez ended the week with an astonishing .568 average with 21 hits in 37 at-bats. He had 4 doubles, 2 home runs, 7 runs, 12 RBI!, and 6 stolen bases!!

Congratulations, Julio Rodriguez! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Week 7: James Paxton

James Paxton had a very good week on the mound last week. In two quality starts, he pitched fifteen innings, had a 1.80 ERA, a 0.60 WHIP, and had one win. Those stats are almost, but not quite, as good as the week Paxton won the MLBoyfriend title last year. However, he earned the repeat win because on Tuesday, May 8, Paxton threw a no-hitter.

I should note that throwing a no-hitter is not enough to win the title of my MLBoyfriend. Especially this season when we're on track to see quite a few no-hitters. There had already been two before Paxton's last week. Fun fact: The first three no-hitters of 2018 have been in three different countries--the United States, Mexico and Canada. Paxton's no-no caught my attention for two reasons.

1. He is on my fantasy baseball team, The Lake Washington Gillygoofangs. So, I was very happy with his contribution to the pitching stats. (It's not his fault that the week wound up being pretty mediocre for the team.)
2. He was the one that threw his no-hitter in Canada--and he's from British Columbia. Friends of this blog may remember that I have a soft spot for Canada and Canadian players.  Paxton's nickname, The Big Maple, is almost enough to make him my MLBoyfriend all by itself.

Week 2: James Paxton

Given the number of outstanding pitching performances last week, it was clear a pitcher would be named my #MLBoyfriend today. There were a number of excellent candidates with not just one but two wins in the last seven days: Wily Peralta of Milwaukee Brewers is now 3-0 for the season after getting two wins last week; Colorado Rockies' rookie Antonio Senzatela's second win completed a sweep of the San Francisco Giants; Detroit Tiger Matthew Boyd gave up only one earned run in twelve innings over two outings; and Michael Pineda of the New York Yankees is finally "starting to realize his potential" with two impressive wins. Above all these great aces, one stood out, so...

Congratulations to James Paxton of the Seattle Mariners. You are my new MLBoyfriend.

On Monday, April 10th, Paxton dominated the Houston Astros in the Mariners' home opener. He went seven innings throwing eight strikeouts and giving up just four hits, two walks and no runs.

Then, on Saturday, April 15th, Paxton had an even more impressive outing against the Texas Rangers. He pitched eight full innings with nine strikeouts, and just two hits and one walk. Again he gave up no runs.

That's right, over fifteen innings in the second week of play, James Paxton had two quality starts, two wins, a phenomenally low WHIP of 0.60, and a 0.00 ERA--it doesn't get much better than that. Oh wait it does get better, because if we count Paxton's outing in the first week of play, his ERA is still 0.00. He's thrown three shut-outs in his first three appearances of the season.

Week 5: Robinson Canó

Last week, an old flame was on fire. Robinson Canó had an amazing .561 batting average and 1.516 OPS earning him the titles of American League Player of the Week and my MLBoyfriend. 

This week was no fluke either. Canó has had an excellent start to the season including leading the American League in RBIs (as of May 7th). There is already some (admittedly wildly early) speculation on him being this year's AL MVP.

It's always fun to see a long-time favorite player having a killer run. Although, I must admit that I miss seeing Canó in Yankees' pinstripes. I also loved that he wore #24 in honor of #42, the number of the man he was named after, the great Jackie Robinson.