A quick hit: Multihit man

Last night, after Cuban Yandy Díaz got his fourth hit of the game against the Twins, I received a text from my friend Yanquiel Barrios: “Yandy has 17 multi-hit games this year, and leads the American League.” Hearing that was great!

Just a few hours ago I had written a piece about the incredible year that Yandy Díaz is having with the Tampa Bay Rays team, breaking above .300 in batting average, .400 in his on-base percentage, and .500 in slugging. As I wrote, and you can read it here in my column in Spanish, Yandy could become just the second hitter in the Rays franchise to hit those averages in a season.

Who was the previous one? Well, I can't wait to tell you who it is: The legendary Fred McGriff in 1999. Either way, be sure to read the piece because there are some interesting nuggets in there.

Getting back to Yandy, if you follow the Rays, you probably saw that he went 4-for-6 on Monday night against the Minnesota Twins. Two of his hits were extra bases: his 30th double and his 20th home run of the season. Now Yandy is slashing .324/.404/.513, among just five qualified hitters who have surpassed the slash line of .300+ BA, .400+ OBP, and .500+ SLG this year.

Who were those boys? Look at what a list of exciting hitters:

1) Shohei Ohtani: .304/.412/.654

2) Mookie Betts: .313/.411/.611

3) Ronald Acuña Jr.: .334/.416/.584

4) Freddie Freeman: .335/.413/.570

5) Yandy Díaz: .324/.404/.513

To be honest, Cuban Yandy Díaz is the big surprise in that quintet of hitters, and one of the reasons was the reason for my search for this column: his consistency and the success he has had this year at the plate. With his four hits last Monday night, Yandy reached 48 multi-hit games, which places him as the leader in the American League this season.

He's still pretty far from the Rays' all-time single-season record, held by Carl Crawford, who had 59 multi-hit games with the 2006 Devil Rays. Either way, I think this sounds great: Yandy He is very close to becoming the 15th Cuban hitter to record at least 50 multi-hit games in a Major League season, and that feat would join a legendary list of compatriots.

So, he couldn't wait to delve into history and bring up some interesting notes that Cuban hitters have performed in the Major Leagues.

You already know that hitting at least one single per game is a challenge on the big stage of baseball. Can you imagine two, three, or four hits, for multiple games in a season? Awesome! And, well, even more incredible have been those unique hitters with enough skill and talent to achieve such consistency. Let's start our little tour of virtuoso swings by categories: