​Tyler Tolbert of the Kansas City Royals won’t be part of the Midsummer Classic next week, but the young utility player is turning a long weekend into one for the record books. In the seventh inning against the Mets, Tolbert lined an infield single for his second straight hit in as many at-bats, pushing his night to an eye-popping 5-for-5. Even more remarkable, he has now gone 12-for-12 in his last 12 plate appearances, a streak that has caught the attention of baseball historians and statisticians alike.
To understand just how rare this is, it’s important to distinguish between at-bats and plate appearances. Tolbert’s 12-for-12 is a mark tied to his at-bats, not accounting for walks, hit-by-pitches, or other plate appearances that don’t count as at-bats. By that measure, he joins a select group of players who have posted 12 hits in 12 at-bats, a list headlined by Johnny Kling in 1902, Pinky Higgins in 1938, Walt Dropo in 1952, and Jose Miranda in 2024. Within the broader category of plate appearances, Tolbert is one of only two players to achieve 12 hits in 12 plate appearances, a feat that is rarer still. That distinction places him alongside Kling and Dropo in a more exclusive club, as noted by MLB stats analyst Sarah Langs.
Tolbert’s hitting surge is not just about a perfect run of contact; he’s also been booming the ball with authority. Earlier in the same game, he homered, and he registered another hard contact measurement of 103.5 mph on a ball that found the outfield. The other three hits in his hot stretch were more conventional: line drives and well-placed balls that reached the outfield grass with impressive regularity, clocking speeds of 86.1 mph, 81.2 mph, and the record-tying hit at 64.8 mph off the bat. The contrast between hard-hit balls and those that show a little more “eye” to find a hole in the defense underscores Tolbert’s versatility as a hitter who can mix power with productive contact.
Tolbert’s historic run came to a close when he flied out to right field to lead off the ninth inning, bringing his 12-for-12 plate-appearance stretch to an end. The same season has already seen Tolbert go 5-for-5 in a 15-1 rout of the Phillies on July 6, a day that also featured him coming a triple shy of the cycle and adding two more hits that game, both of them off the bat at speeds below 65 mph.
This stretch is funny, in a way that only a long MLB season can deliver: it’s July, deep into a marathon schedule, and Tolbert is delivering the kind of performance you don’t anticipate week to week. He may not be the hammer that drives the ball out of the park on every swing, but he’s illustrating a valuable lesson in baseball: good things often come to those who put their heads down and sprint to first base, then see what the defense gives you. Tolbert’s run has become a microcosm of the season’s grind and the unpredictable, sometimes ridiculous, magic that can emerge from players who seize the moment.
This story originally appeared on USA TODAY.