Howard Smith-USA Today Sports
With it being so early in the season and so many storylines, both good and bad, revolving around the Philadelphia Phillies, it seems that one particular nugget has gone relatively unnoticed and that would be that 3B Michael Young is currently in the midst of a 13-game hitting streak.
Of course, Young is still a whopping 43 games away from tying the record of one Joe DiMaggio. But still, 13 straight games with a hit is something to take notice of, right?
A consistent hitter throughout most of his career, this is actually the tenth consecutive season in which Young has had at least one 12+ game hitting streak. Again, this is definitely something that seems to stand out as impressive.
Additionally, during the hitting streak, Young is batting .368 despite having just two multi-hit games in the last 13.
Yet, hardly anyone is talking about it. No one is talking about how Young’s clutch hitting has kept the Phillies with their heads above water in the past few games; no one is noticing that Young has actually been a pretty important part of this lineup and that perhaps his hitting behind Ryan Howard has led to the first baseman having a .275 average, despite his shockingly low power numbers (1 HR, 6 RBI).
But maybe this is because it is just a 13-game streak. After all, Chase Utley hit safely in 35 games and Jimmy Rollins holds the franchise record of 36 straight games with a hit. Young is still at not even half of those numbers, so maybe it isn’t worth talking about…yet.
Regardless, Young’s impact on the year really cannot be understated. On the season he is hitting .333 and impressively, he has reached base safely in all but one of the 18 games he has played in.
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