Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (May 16-22).
The Comet: Hyeseong Kim has made an impact at the plate in his time with the Dodgers so far. He reached base in nine consecutive plate appearances in a streak that ended in Friday’s game. That tied 2015 Corey Seager for the longest such streak by a Dodgers rookie since the team moved to LA, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Wilmer!: Wilmer Flores had a night for the ages on Friday, tallying three home runs and eight RBIs. He became the fifth player in Giants history with at least three homers and eight RBIs in a game (RBI official since 1920), joining Joc Pederson (5/24/22), Willie Mays (four homers on 4/30/61), Hank Thompson (6/3/54) and High Pockets Kelly (6/14/1924). Flores was also the first Venezuelan-born MLB player with such a game.
Ready, willing and Abel: Mick Abel finished with nine strikeouts on Sunday, tying 18-year-old Curt Simmons on Sept. 28, 1947, for most by a Phillies pitcher in his MLB debut in at least the last 125 seasons. Abel didn’t walk anyone and didn’t allow a run. The only other pitchers in at least the last 125 seasons with at least nine strikeouts and no walks or runs allowed in their MLB debuts were Shota Imanaga (4/1/24) and Nick Kingham (4/29/18).
Catch them if you can: With Miguel Amaya’s five-RBI day on Monday, the Cubs now have four five-RBI games from catchers this year. That’s tied with the 1996 Mets and 1995 Dodgers for the third-most five-RBI games from catchers in a season (RBI official since 1920). They trail only the 1953 and ‘51 Dodgers, with five each. With two such games each from Amaya and Carson Kelly, the Cubs are the first team with multiple such games from multiple catchers.
Start to finish: The Marlins got the last laugh in that game against the Cubs on Monday. Jesús Sánchez hit a leadoff homer in the game, then ended it with a walk-off triple. He became the first player with a leadoff homer and walk-off RBI in the same game since Alex Gordon on June 26, 2013. The only other Marlins player to do so was Hanley Ramirez (8/7/10).
Schwarbs: Kyle Schwarber hit his 300th career regular-season home run on Monday, and it was a big one, traveling 466 ft. That was his 14th homer of at least 460 ft in his career including playoffs, all since the start of 2017. Only Aaron Judge (16) has more such homers in that span.
Hard-hitting Heliot: Heliot Ramos set a career high for exit velocity with a 116 mph single on Monday. Ramos has eight batted balls of at least 110 mph this season in 49 games. He had eight such batted balls total in his career entering 2025, in 155 games.
Strong as an Elk(o): Tim Elko debuted on May 10 and is already making his presence known on White Sox leaderboards. His home run on Wednesday had a 110.6 mph exit velocity. Elko now has the White Sox two hardest-hit home runs this season, with that and his 111.1 mph homer on 5/17.
The Martian: Jasson Domínguez ended the Yankees’ lengthy drought without a walk-off home run on Wednesday, hitting their first since Giancarlo Stanton on Sept. 20, 2022. At 22 years & 103 days, Dominguez became the fourth-youngest player in Yankees history with a walk-off home run, older than only 5/6/18 Gleyber Torres (21y, 144d), 4/23/53 Mickey Mantle (21y, 185d) and 7/18/06 Melky Cabrera (21y, 341d), per Elias.
Current Ironman: Matt Olson has played in 669 consecutive games entering Friday, dating to May 2, 2021. There have been only seven other streaks of at least 600 to begin in the divisional era (1969), per Elias. They belong to Cal Ripken Jr. (2,632 consecutive games from 1982-98), Steve Garvey (1,207 from 1975-83), Miguel Tejada (1,152 from 2000-07), Pete Rose (745 from 1978-83), Dale Murphy (740 from 1981-86), Rose (678 from 1973-78) and Sandy Alomar Sr. (661 from 1969-73).