There are six players in baseball history to swat and speed their way to a 60-double campaign – from George H. Burns for Cleveland in 1926 through Charlie Gehringer for the 1936 Tigers, all six flew up the charts over an 11-year span. So maybe it’s just not in the cards to witness another. But, there have been flirtations in the more current brand of baseball – Todd Helton climbed all the way to 59 during his almost incomprehensibly prolific 2000 season; Nick Castellanos shrugged off the volatility of being traded midseason in 2019 to get to 58; and just two years ago, Freddie Freeman got to within one of the magic number. Maybe it’s not so outlandish to imagine a current ballplayer joining Burns, Gehringer, Paul Waner, Hank Greenberg, Joe Medwick and the single-season leader, Earl Webb (67 in 1931). At least that’s the kind of outlook that feels acceptable while being swept up in the early season works of Jung Hoo Lee.
Jung Hoo Lee cracked his 11th double of the year to aid in the Giants’ 6-5 win against the Brewers. The outfielder is tied for the MLB lead with those 11 two-base hits and also ranks fourth in the Majors with 16 extra-base hits. The tallies are equally impressive when placing them against all Giants in the modern era through the end of April.
1901-2025: NYG/SFG, Most Doubles Through April 30
11 Kevin Mitchell (1989), Jung Hoo Lee (2025)
10 Jeff Kent (1997), Barry Bonds (1998), José Castillo (2008), Buster Posey (2019)
1901-2025: NYG/SFG, Most XBH Through April 30
19 Kevin Mitchell (1989)
17 Barry Bonds (1993)
16 Bobby Bonds (1973), Barry Bonds (2001), Jung Hoo Lee (2025)
In the Giants;’ win, Mike Yastrzemski helped the cause with a solo homer off right-handed starter Tobias Myers. The 34-year-old is 16th in the Majors among qualifiers with a .949 OPS, but jumps considerably – into the eighth highest OPS, 1.100 – when facing right-handers (min. 50 PA). In that latter category, Arizona’s Pavin Smith leads with a 1.233, while his teammate Corbin Carroll is second with a 1.182.
At home in Kauffman Stadium, the Royals – thanks in part to Salvador Perez’s four doubles – swept a doubleheader against the Rockies. In all, Kansas City batters tallied eight doubles in the two games while failing to go yard. Since 1973, when Kauffman opened, the Royals have the second most doubles at home (trailing only the Red Sox) and have the fewest homers while at home (excepting the 1990s expansion teams). Over this stretch when playing at home, the Royals own the highest 2B:HR ratio in the Majors, with 2.48 doubles for every dinger.
In a loss to the Orioles, MacKenzie Gore added another eight strikeouts to the column and upped his seasonal tally to a big league-best 53. Those 53 represent the fourth highest mark for an Expos/Nationals pitcher through the end of April. In 2003, Javier Vázquez ran that number all the way to 58*, while Max Scherzer had 57 in 2018 and 54 in 2019. Gore is tied with Stephen Strasburg (2014).
*Those 58 match Vázquez with Vida Blue (1971) and Yu Darvish (2013) for the 14th most in the modern era. Shane Bieber’s 68 in 2021 is tops.
In his very first big league plate appearance, Pittsburgh’s Matt Gorski homered. He’s one of four Pirates to go yard in his initial trip to the dish. Walter Mueller was the first, in 1922. Don Leppert came next, in 1961, and then Starling Marte followed in 2012. Gorski’s milestone longball came on the seventh pitch of the confrontation; Mueller and Marte homered on the first pitch, with Mueller earning some extra pizazz by getting his four bases against Hall of Famer Pete Alexander.
Oneil Cruz delivered a leadoff homer in the first and added a single later on as the Pirates dropped a 4-3 decision to the Angels. Cruz has led off the game with a home run three times this year* and in his eight games as the team’s leadoff batter, has posted a 1.083 OPS (overall, he’s at .906 for the season). The club leader since 1901 for the highest OPS out of the leadoff spot (min. 250 PA) is found way back in the 1920s, when Max Carey posted a .944 for the 1925 World Series champs.
*Barry Bonds owns the Pirates’ single-season mark for the most home runs to lead off the game, eight in 1988
Jacob deGrom fanned six with no walks in a no-decision on Thursday. The right-hander has fanned 5.37 batters for every walk he’s issued in his career, tops among all pitchers with at least 200 starts. The top-10 is current day heavy, featuring six active pitchers (Chris Sale, Max Scherzer, Aaron Nola plus Gerrit Cole and Clayton Kershaw join deGrom). The other four: Tommy Bond (1874-1884), Curt Schilling (1988-2007), Stephen Strasburg (2010-2022) and Corey Kluber (2011-2023).
Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.
Roger Schlueter
As Sr. Editorial Director for Major League Baseball Productions from 2004-2015, Roger served as a hub for hundreds of hours of films, series, documentaries and features: as researcher, fact-checker, script doctor, and developer of ideas. The years at MLB Production gave him the ideal platform to pursue what galvanized him the most – the idea that so much of what takes place on the field during the MLB regular and postseason (and is forever beautifully condensed into a box score) has connections to what has come before. Unearthing and celebrating these webs allows baseball to thrive, for the present can come alive and also reignite the past.