Tyler Tolbert is not a name most baseball fans knew a week ago. A speed-first utility man who has spent much of the season on the Kansas City Royals' bench, he came into this week with modest numbers. He leaves it in the record book. Across two games, Tolbert collected a hit in 12 straight at-bats, tying a Major League Baseball record that has stood, in part, for more than a century.
The streak
The run reached its peak at Citi Field, where Tolbert went 5-for-6 as the Royals beat the New York Mets 16-12 in a high-scoring game, ESPN reported. Combined with hits in his final at-bats the game before, that stretched his consecutive-hit total to 12. A hit in his next at-bat would have set the record outright; instead he was retired, leaving him tied rather than alone.
The company he keeps
Twelve straight hits ties a mark shared by a small and scattered group. According to MLB.com, the others to reach it are Johnny Kling in 1902, Pinky Higgins in 1938, Walt Dropo in 1952 and Rey Miranda in 2024. What set Tolbert's run apart was his role: he had not been a regular starter, and the streak kept forcing him back into the lineup after it began.
A footnote that isn't
Records like this are quirks as much as feats. Consecutive-hit streaks depend on staying in the batting order, avoiding walks, and a run of good fortune on balls in play. But they are also a reminder that baseball's long season leaves room for anyone, on any given week, to do something no one expected. For the Royals, well out of playoff contention, Tolbert's streak was a rare bright spot. For Tolbert, it was a place in a lineage that runs back to 1902.
