6 degrees of HRs: Adell goes yard again ... and again
This is getting ridiculous -- in the best possible way. When Jo Adell homered in three straight games for Triple-A Salt Lake, it raised some eyebrows. When the streak reached four, it prompted a dive into his swing decision improvements. After the fifth game in a row, something about Adell’s
This is getting ridiculous -- in the best possible way.
When
Now the streak has reached six. Adell is officially the hottest hitter in the Minors, and you could make a case to extend that to the Majors, where the league lead is five.
Adell not only passed that mark in the Bees' 11-10 slugfest loss Sunday, but added another homer for good measure. That brought his season total to seven -- all on the road against Albuquerque in a six-game series.
🚨JO ADELL BREAKS THE FRANCHISE RECORD WITH 6 CONSECUTIVE GAMES WITH A HOME RUN🚨 pic.twitter.com/DnvXzgrIoM
— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) April 9, 2023
On his 24th birthday, Adell tied the Salt Lake's franchise record of homering in five straight set by Chad Rupp (July 15-27, 1997) and Adam Riggs (Aug. 20-25, 2004). On Sunday, it didn't start off looking like he would get the record outright, with strikeouts in his first three at-bats.
That changed in the sixth, when Adell lifted a cutter by right-hander Will Gaddis over the wall in left field. The ball left Adell’s bat at just 90.9 mph, making it his “softest” homer of the week. They all count the same, of course.
And then Adell punctuated his career week with another dinger in his final plate appearance, jumping on a slider by righty Matt Koch and depositing it once again beyond the left-field fence.
Adell finished the series against the Isotopes with a .346 (9-for-26) average and 1.231 slugging percentage, buoyed by his seven homers and two doubles. He did strike out 12 times in 30 plate appearances, including three games with three.
The last Minor League player to top a six-game homer streak was Justin Foscue, who went yard in eight straight games in July 2021, the first for the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League Rangers and the final seven for the High-A Hickory Crawdads.
Jacob Resnick is a contributor for MiLB.com.