Mitch Stetter Puts his Twist on the MLB Record Books

Mitch Stetter may not be a household name by any means but he has made his way into the record books. He has set a record, but not a usual one and not one that is comparable to many other feats in MLB history. Stetter, over the course of a few games, managed to strike out 15 batters in a row via the strikeout. The Milwaukee Brewers reliever entered a game on Wednesday having already struck out 11 straight batters in previous games and promptly struck out three Minnesota Twins players in a row. In the very next game he managed to strike out the powerful Justin Morneau to extend the streak to 15. However it ended there as Jason Kubel flied out to right the every next at bat.

What makes the streak so exciting and impressive is the fact that there is no such record to be found anywhere in the MLB record books. It appears that the feat has never been done before in MLB history and that no pitcher has even come close to the startling number. One thing is for sure though; Stetter is not letting the achievement go to his head and is trying to convince everyone, as well as himself, that the streak is all just good luck. The reliever is comparing the feat to a seeing-eye single and refuses to let the media over hype the accomplishment.

Even though the record is impressive, when one looks back at the game footage there were a few instances of good luck that came about. On Wednesday Joe Mauer smashed a line drive right at Stetter that he was unable to handle and thus Mauer was credited with an infield single. If Stetter had just closed his glove in time, the streak would have come to a crashing halt. On June 17^th almost the same thing happened as well. Cleveland Indians catcher Victor Martinez hit a light tapper back to the mound that Stetter could not handle. Stetter was charged with an error on the play and continued to rack up the consecutive strikeouts.

The team and even Stetter have joked that he botched both plays in order to try and obtain the record. However everyone knows this is nothing more than a joke as Stetter and the entire league was unaware of just exactly what was going on until recently.

Putting the excitement of the streak aside, Stetter has emerged as quite an important piece of the Brewers bullpen and is now 2-0 on the season in 35 appearances. Whether the 15 strikeout record will be remembered for years to come remains to be seen, but the fact is that Mitch Stetter has now made a name for himself and is proving to be one of the best relievers in the National League this year. We will have to wait and see if the extra media attention could help him get a spot on this year's NL All Star team.