Minor League Baseball Player Makes History

A minor league baseball player accomplished something no major leaguer has ever done on Tuesday night.

Erie Seawolves (Double-A Eastern League) third baseman, Colt Keith, the No.2 prospect in the Detroit Tigers farm system, went 6-6 with two home runs, a triple, a double, two singles, and seven RBIs against the Harrisburg Senators. It was his first career cycle and just the second time he hit multiple home runs in a professional game.

No Major League player has ever had a six-hit game with two home runs while hitting for the cycle and only four have hit for the cycle with six hits in the 147-year history of professional baseball, the last being outfielder Christian Yelich in 2018.

The other three players to accomplish that feat were Rangers’ second baseman Ian Kinsler (2009), Montreal Expos outfielder Rondell White (1995), and Tigers outfielder Bobby Veach (1920).

“I honestly didn’t think about it until our pitching coach, Juan Pimentel, said something like, ‘If you hit a double make sure you trip and stay at first,’ or something like that,” Keith told MILB.com after the game. “I felt pretty invincible going up there in the last at-bat. I felt like everything was clicking and I was going to get a hit.”

Keith collected a home run and a triple with five RBIs in the first inning as the Seawolves opened the game with an eight-run frame on their way to 22 hits and an 18-8 victory.

The third baseman added his second home run in the fourth, a double in the fifth, and finished the cycle with a single in the seventh. His sixth hit of the night was another single in the ninth.

The Tigers drafted Keith in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB Draft, as part of a class that included some of the team’s top prospects and young players like first baseman Spencer Torkelson and Erie catcher Dillon Dingler. He has quickly become one of their top position player prospects, trailing only former Texas Tech standout Jace Jung, according to MLB.com.

This is Keith’s third minor league season, and the 21-year-old is hitting .293 with seven home runs and 28 RBIs in 32 games at the Double-A level. MLB.com projects him to reach the Major Leagues at some point in the 2024 season.