Baseball Cycles: Most Recent and All-Time Leaders by Position

Issue #3

On Friday, July 1st Nolan Arenado hit for the cycle against the Phillies, though his Cardinals still lost the game 5-3. It was the second cycle of his career, as he also had one on June 18, 2017 when his Rockies beat the Giants 7-5.

Arenado's cycle yesterday was the fifth of the season so far, with the others being:

• Austin Hays, Orioles against Nationals on 6/22

• Jared Walsh, Angels against Mets on 6/11

• Eduard Escobar, Mets against Padres on 6/6

• Christian Yelich, Brewers against Reds on 5/11

That is quite a lot given that we are just now at the half-way point in the season. The record for the most cycles in one season is 8, accomplished in 1933 and 2009.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the position that has gone the longest without a cycle is catcher, where the last was George Kottaras of the Brewers who hit for the cycle on September 3rd, 2011 against the Astros. Kottaras played in the majors from 2008-2014, first for the Red Sox, then the Brewers, and then five other clubs. Only a career .215 hitter, he did have a little pop as he slugged .411 with 32 HR in 858 career plate appearances.

Here are the most recent two players at each position to hit for the cycle:

• 1B Jared Walsh 6/11/22

• 1B Freddie Freeman 8/18/21

• 2B Jake Cronenworth 7/16/21

• 2B Cavan Biggio 9/17/19

• 3B Nolan Arenado 7/1/22

• 3B Eduardo Escobar 6/6/22

• RF Christian Yelich 8/29/18*

• RF Mookie Betts 8/9/18

• CF Austin Hays 6/22/22

• CF Charlie Blackmon 9/30/18

• LF Eddie Rosario 9/19/21

• LF Christian Yelich 9/17/18

• C George Kottaras 9/3/11

• C Bengie Molina 7/16/10

• DH Christian Yelich 5/11/22

• DH Jake Bauers 6/14/19

*According to Baseball Reference, Yelich played both RF and LF in that game.

You'll notice Yelich appears three times here. He is in fact tied for the all-time record in cycle games, along with (since 1901):

• Trea Turner

• Adrián Beltré

• Babe Herman

• Bob Meusel

What makes Yelich's three cycles unique is that they have come against the same team, the Reds.

Every position has seen players with 2 or more cycles in their careers, as shown here. These are since 1901 only, and when tied, the more recent are listed first):

This is an interesting mix of Hall-of-Famers and other very good players, with only a few who had less distinguished careers.

A few other fun facts about cycles (from Wikipedia):

• The only postseason cycle was accomplished by Brock Holt on October 8th, 2018 in Game 3 of the ALDS when his Red Sox trounced the Yankees 16-1.

• The only current MLB team to have never had a cycle is the Miami Marlins. (All three of Yelich's cycles came after he left the Marlins for the Brewers.)

• There were over 40 other cycles from the AL, NL, and American Association prior to 1901. Early stars John Reilly (3), Dave Orr (2), Jimmy Ryan (2), Mike Tiernan (2), and Pete Browning (2), Tip O'Neill (2) led the way.

• A "natural cycle — where the batter gets the cycle in order single, double, triple, homerun — has only happened 14 times, with the most recent being Gary Mathews Jr. of the Rangers in 2006.

• The oldest and youngest players to hit for the cycle are Hall of Famers Dave Winfield and Mel Ott, at ages 39 and 20, respectively.

For more interesting facts about baseball cycles, see this page at The Baseball Almanac.

All data is from Baseball-Reference.com, and also their subscription service Stathead.com. If you are a big sports fan, be sure to check out the latest features at Stathead and the Sports Reference family of sites.