There are 20 players in baseball history who thundered so frequently in the young portions of their careers that by the time they concluded their age-26 seasons, they already had more than 200 home runs. Seven of these precocious hammerers accompanied their potency with an uncommon level of discernment that produced at least 600 walks. The list literally spans a century, with Jimmie Foxx (who debuted in 1925) casting a line that brings in Met Ott, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews and a trio of active players – Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Juan Soto. Of these seven paragons of pop and patience, Ott, Mantle and Soto share an extra boast when it comes to the latter portion of this equation: they are the only ones to exceed 700 free passes.
Juan Soto delivered his second multi-homer game of this month, leading the Mets to a 7-1 win against the Diamondbacks (his other multi-homer game also came against Arizona). The power-laden day at the plate didn’t feature any walks, however, leaving Soto with 798 for his career. With his next free pass, Soto will match Mickey Mantle for the most walks ever for any player through his age-26 season. With the two longballs from this most current display, Soto moved a little closer to matching Mantle in that category, too.
~Soto v. Mantle Through Their Age-26 Seasons
| Name | Games | BB | HR | RBI | XBH | TB | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ |
| Mantle | 1,102 | 799 | 249 | 766 | 484 | 2,270 | .314 | .430 | .577 | 1.006 | 176 |
| Soto | 974 | 798 | 208 | 609 | 411 | 1,812 | .284 | .419 | .530 | .950 | 160 |
~Most Walks Through a Player’s Age-26 Season
799 Mickey Mantle
798 Juan Soto
743 Eddie Yost
704 Mel Ott
693 Mike Trout
~Soto’s latest multi-homer game – the 25th of his career – came at the age of 26 years and 194 days. No player in history has had more by this specific age, with Mel Ott also at 25. Eddie Mathews had 23 while Willie Mays and Jim Rice each had 21.
Kodai Senga posted yet another scoreless outing (his fourth of the year), going six innings and allowing just two hits (albeit with five walks). The Mets’ right-hander owns a 1.16 ERA (third lowest in the Majors) in his seven appearances. This mark is the lowest for any Met with at least seven starts, through 38 team games.
1.16 Kodai Senga (2025)
1.36 Johan Santana (2009)
1.39 Al Leiter (1998)
1.44 Matt Harvey (2013)
1.55 Jerry Koosman (1968)
Shohei Ohtani reached safely four times and came around to score on two of those occasions, giving him 40 runs scored in 35 games. No player who qualified for the batting title has scored more runs than games played since Rickey Henderson (146 runs in 143 games) in 1985. Since 1901, there are 13 other players in the NL or AL to have done this. Starting with the most recent batter before Rickey:
1939 Jimmie Foxx (130 runs in 124 games)
1936 Lou Gehrig (167 in 155)
1931 Lou Gehrig (163 in 155)
1931 Babe Ruth (149 in 145)
1930 Babe Ruth (150 in 145)
1930 Al Simmons (152 in 138)
1930 Chuck Klein (158 in 156)
1928 Babe Ruth (163 in 154)
1927 Babe Ruth (158 in 151)
1921 Babe Ruth (177 in 152)
1920 Babe Ruth (158 in 142)
1911 Ty Cobb (148 in 146)
1901 Nap Lajoie (145 in 131)
Cleveland defeated Washington, 8-6 – the team’s third straight game scoring at least eight runs. The streak is the team’s longest since 2022, but nowhere near the longest ever for the franchise. In 2001, the Indians went on an eight-game run with eight-plus runs (and won all eight).
Wilmer Flores drove in a run to push his tally to 33 RBI for the year – fourth in the Majors and the most for any Giant through 38 team games since Barry Bonds was at 34 RBI in 2001.
Wilyer Abreu homered twice in Boston’s 6-4 win over Texas, the third multi-homer game of his career with all three coming against the Rangers (two in 2025, one in 2024). There are three players who’ve had a trio of multi-homer games against the Rangers in a season: Reggie Jackson in 1974, Vladimir Guerrero in 2004 and Khris Davis in 2016. Jackson and Davis are also tied for the most career multi-homer games against the Rangers franchise, with Mickey Mantle also reaching that same high number – six. As for Abreu’s opportunity to match the single-season mark, the Red Sox play the Rangers one more time this season: an afternoon tilt later today.
Alex Bregman homered and doubled (and singled) in Boston’s win, giving him 15 doubles and 24 extra-base hits for the year. Both tallies lead the Majors. The 15 two-base hits through 38 team games are the most for the franchise since Rafael Devers had that many in 2022 and the 24 extra-base hits are the most since Mookie Betts had 27 in 2018. Bregman’s numerical combo has been reached (or exceeded) through 38 Red Sox games seven previous times: by Earl Webb (1931), José Offerman (1999), Mike Lowell (2006), Mike Napoli (2013) and David Ortiz (2004, 2007, 2016).
Kyle Schwarber singled twice to extend his on-base streak to 36 games – the run is among the five longest to open a season this century.
2000-2025: Longest On-Base Streak to Begin a Campaign
44 Matt Holliday for the Cardinals in 2015
41 Albert Pujols for the Cardinals in 2008
40 Odúbel Herrera for the Phillies in 2018
37 José Bautista for the Blue Jays in 2014
36 Yordan Alvarez for the Astros in 2023
36 Kyle Schwarber for the Phillies in 2025
Max Fried allowed a run over seven innings and saw his ERA tick up to 1.05. Even with the movement in the wrong direction, the mark – at this point in a season – has few superiors in the liveball era.
1920-2025: Lowest ERA Through 37 Team Games (min. 8 GS)
0.52 Mike Norris in 1980
0.60 Zack Greinke in 2009
0.69 Juan Marichal in 1966
0.90 Pedro Martínez in 2000
0.91 Fernando Valenzuela in 1981
0.95 Randy Johnson in 2000
1.00 Cy Blanton in 1935
1.04 Dave Stieb in 1983
1.05 Max Fried in 2025
Byron Buxton homered in his third straight game to highlight a 5-2 Twins victory. In his first 18 games of the year, Buxton owned a .203/.247/.377 line and had three doubles and three homers as part of his rough start. In his past 16 games, he’s slashing .348/.366/.712 with two doubles, two triples and six homers. No Twin has homered in four (or more) in a row since 2019, when Nelson Cruz had a five-game streak in July after posting a four-game run that June.
Michael Wacha allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings and recorded a win as the Royals slipped past the White Sox, 2-1. Kansas City claims the AL’s lowest team ERA at 2.99, which also glows as the second lowest ever for the franchise through 38 games. In 1972, the team owned a 2.90.
Ryan McMahon and Michael Toglia each had a pair of doubles and a homer and yet their Rockies still came out on the short side in an 8-6 decision against the Tigers. Before this contest, Colorado had never before had a pair of players hit those numbers in a loss. But as the old infomercial phrase goes, “Wait, there’s more!” This Rockies defeat marks the first time since 1901 that any team has seen two of its players each produce two-or-more doubles and a home run in a loss.
Down 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth, the Angels were lifted by a three-run double from Jorge Soler to walk off with a 5-4 win against the Blue Jays. It’s the second time this year that an Angel has produced a walk-off double when down by multiple runs, after Jo Adell delivered the goods on April 20. In the previous half century, the Angels had zero events like this: a non-homer walk-off hit with the club down by two or three runs.
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.