Toronto Blue Jays Kendrys Morales riding insane hot streak

Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter Kendrys Morales has a chance to tie history tonight.

What a run it has been for Kendrys Morales. In case you didn’t know already, the Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter has been the hottest hitter in baseball within the past week, hitting .481 with 8 home runs in his last seven games and earning AL Player of the Week honors.

While that’s incredible in itself, Morales is gaining notoriety for having hit a homer in seven consecutive games, which broke the Blue Jays franchise record as well as the Major League record for most consecutive games with a home run as a switch-hitter.

Morales’ 7 straight games with a homer put him in a group with Kevin Mench, Jim Thome and Barry Bonds as the only players to have gone seven games with a home run. Tonight, Monina —Morales’ Players Weekend nickname— has the opportunity to tie the all-time record for most consecutive home runs with eight, and would join a super-exclusive group.

It’s comical that Mattingly and Griffey Jr., two great hitters, share the record with Dale Long, who hit 132 career home runs and switched teams eight times. Nonetheless, all of the guys on the list had a surreal 8-game stretch, and Morales could be the newest member of this club with a long ball tonight.

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Morales’ hot streak is one nobody would have ever predicted just a few months ago when it appeared he couldn’t hit anything. In mid-May, he was in the midst of a 7-for-70 slump, and heading into June K-Mo was slashing just .203 along with 4 home runs and a measly .341 slugging %. These numbers aren’t exuberantly terrible in a sample size of 123 at-bats, but the burden of Morales’ bad base running, terrible hitting against breaking balls, and inability to be put anywhere in the lineup other than DH made him a clog on the roster.

Not only that, but Morales wasn’t even halfway through his 3-year, $33 million contract, which put the front office in a tough position because if president Mark Shapiro wanted to get rid of him they would either have had to take on a lot of his salary in a trade or eat it altogether if they decided to release him.

However, Morales has made the decision easier for the Blue Jays’ brass as he’s been one of the team’s most reliable hitters in recent months. Since the All-Star break, K-Mo has hit .301 with a .973 OPS, whiffing in just 16% of his at-bats versus his 25% K rate before the ASB.

Kendrys has been torching the ball recently, and a home run tonight would put him in the record books. How good are his chances of doing it? Well, the Baltimore Orioles are sending David Hess to the mound, who has been one of the most home run-prone pitchers in the league this season. Hess gives up 2 home runs per 9 innings pitched, and the last player to hit a dinger off him is Morales in a 6-0 Blue Jays victory last Tuesday.

This gives confidence that Morales’ chances of hitting a home run tonight are as high as they possibly could be, making it worthwhile for Blue Jays fans to keep tabs on tonight’s game as Monina could make history.