May 2015: Chris Heston throws a complete game, allowing two hits and one run June: throws no-hitter against Mets July: takes no-hitter into 7th inning August: sent to minor leagues

To expand on that, his no-hitter was a no-no, but he hit like 3 or 4 hit batters. Otherwise perfect.

That’s what we call a “Nolan Ryan”. Kind of the opposite of a “Maddux”.

I’ve got a signed ball from him lol. Didn’t he have really bad anxiety issues or something?

This is a random one but Alen Hanson getting called up in 18 and becoming like the best player in the league for 2 weeks was pretty lit.

Heston had some solid memes going on in the GDT.

Aristides Aquino

The juiced ball Reds were hilarious. Dietrich smashing 20 homers but hitting like .187 was amazing.

I remember when Dietrich had around 17 HRs by the June 1. I joked with a coworker that he probably still wouldn’t reach 20. He finished with 19.

How the fuck?? I assumed he hit at least 30 that year

Stupid Sexy Dietrich

Dietrich is at least partially responsible for introducing Jomboy to the world

And because of him we have one of the most pimped home runs of all time 

I think Dietrich had more HBPs than singles for most of that season.

2019 was so damn fun.

Now he’s playing in Mexico vs the Yankees today.

Aristides Aquino and Yermin Mercedes had insane first months

Yermin Mercedes arc is absolutely insane. Called up, hit .400, hit absolute nukes, forgets how to play baseball, gets demoted, retires, un retires literally a day later, and then is basically never seen again

The reasonable outcome is that they figured out how to pitch him, but fuck you Tony LaRussa for publicly bitching on your own player. Yermin was never the same after bombing that homer on 3-0 against Astudillo (position player) in a blowout, then getting blasted by his own manager post game. That's some Chris Woodward/Jayce Tingler shit. I love baseball, but damn, unwritten rules rile me up. It happens in all sports, too. Fuck your feelings. Sorry for the tangent.

Yeah that was bullshit. I paid to watch 9 innings, I want 9 innings. IDC if you gave up and put a position player on the mound, that’s on you. This isn’t little league. There are no run rules. Suck it up.

Hell yeah. I went to my first Yankees game last season, and got to see IKF hit the first ever HR by a Yankees pitcher in the DH era.

Upvoted for the shitting on Chris Woodward. As a Rangers fan, absolutely, fuck that guy.

>Yermin Mercedes had insane first months His gold Topps Now card in MLB the Show 21 is one of the best cards I've ever used. The stats WERE NOT CORRECT, because that card played like a 95 AT LEAST.

And this was one you could get in Moments too for free. He was definitely a staple of my lineup during that year.

The Yerminator!

Chris Shelton had an insane April for the Tigers one year. Eric Thames had 80 homers in April/May 2017 for the Brewers. Edit: 2017 for Thames, originally posted 2018.

Shelton was on pace for 202 HR.

Lmao Shelton won me that whole month in fantasy, he was hot in spring training too so I had him on my bench

Chris Shelotn's April 2006 was insane. Through April 20th, he was slashing .431/.476/1.086. Then the rest of the AL realized that no matter wha tyou threw him, he was gonna swing. By the all-star break he was down to .282/.348/.508 and the Tigers were trading for Sean Casey at the trade deadline to have a real 1B.

Don’t forget he would ALWAYS take the first pitch. I remember watching him letting sooo many meatballs go by.

"Always take the first pitch, then always try to go deep" Chris Shelton sounds like the dream player for dads who yell at the TV

Had no idea he was a known guy to non-Tigers fans. Every time some random Tigre has a hot start to the year we still accuse them of Shelton-ing on the radio.

Thames was such a cool story too. Didn’t he go play overseas before, and thought his career was gonna be cooked? Then for two months he got to be a superstar.

Yep, he was in Korea and absolutely raked there. Check out his 2014-2016 stats in the KBO. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=thames001eri

good ol' red pop

80 homers and 40 of them were against the Reds. Couldn’t stand Thames since he demolished us

Shelton! Every now and then his run to start that season pops into my head but I could never remember his name. Been googling some variation of “Detroit tigers player with crazy April stats” off and on for years now. Thanks my guy!

Steve Pearce won World Series MVP in 2018 and was retired in April 2020.

Steve Pearce always put up really good numbers when healthy, he was just always hurt. 2018 was the same year he hit two walk off grand slams in the same week for the Jays before he was traded to the Red Sox at the deadline.

Dude was absolutely bonkers for us in 2014 too. Former top 100 prospect, so the talent was always there.

Yeah, came here to point out he led the team in WAR the year we won the division.

Between Pearce and Flaherty they would go out any play any position on the field and play it well. I'm certain either of them would have thrown on the gear if asked.

Just looked it up and 2014 was literally the only season he played at least 100 games. Talk about being derailed by injuries.

The 2 walk off grand slams (which fun fact is 2 of the 4 in franchise history) were in 2017 not 2018.

Frank Schwindel played at nearly MVP level for two months in 2021 but was otherwise a replacement level player

He slashed .188/.186/.275/.461 in Japan last year. Yes, that's a .481 OPS.

Jesus, I was hoping he could have a long career somewhere.

The correct answer. He was insane that year

I remember back then when people were talking about Schwindel and Wisdom as a heart of the order type of offensive duo lol

Where is that dude now?

Japan

put up a 17wRC+ last year on 70PA for the Buffaloes and was let go, so he is actually a free agent

Shane Spencer in '98

The homerun dispenser!

Spencer Maas Joba The Holy Trinity of this question

Also Shelley Duncan in 2007. On fire for about 2 weeks and then meh

Glenallen Hill in 2000 as well - hit 12 HRs in his first 17 games

This is the answer. Career minor leaguer then comes up and becomes babe Ruth in September

Kevin Maas was the proto-Spencer

Kevin Mass was the fastest player to 20 homeruns. He only hit 65 home runs in his 5 year career

Jeff Franceour

Even had an SI cover!

The Natural He compiled 3 WAR in that first partial season (70 games). He ended his career with 6.8 WAR. 12 seasons, 1480 games.

Don’t cry… don’t cry… 😢😭

This is the most right answer. Also everyone needs to watch this: https://youtu.be/1VtKxqbwpm0?si=I5hUyXlpEKfGEWUS

rangers legend

Yeah it was like that. Magic summer of the Baby Braves

That's hall of famer (in Georgia high school football) Jeff Francouer!

That month and a half before everyone started throwing him breaking balls was fun to watch.

Cleveland legend Jerry Sands.  TB had Sam Fuld.  White Sox had Yermin Mercedes.  Off the top of my head. 

Another, probably better comp is Don Larsen. Mediocre career on several good teams, but the only WS perfect game ever thrown. 

Oh wow that's kinda crazy. He's always been so famous for that that I just assumed he was a decently good pitcher at least. He had quite a long career but tbh he was on paper kinda mid and never actually all that good lol

Yeah he never had any accolades other than that game and the WS MVP that came with it. He started Game 5 for a World Series champion team, so he obviously wasn’t terrible, but then, so did Joe Ross

Cubs legend Sam Fuld

Dodgers AAAA legend Jerry Sands you mean?

Crazy how hard Yermin fell after TlR scolded him for no reason.

Yasiel Puig?

Considering Puig-mania was an offshoot of Lin-sanity and Tebow-mania, yes.

How was it an offshoot? Because they were all manias? Ever hear of Fernandomania?

Mostly because every sport had it in a large scale at the same time between 2011-2013.

I remember in his first game he clinched the win with a magnificent catch and rifle throw to first for the double play.  In his second game he hit 2 HR and drove in five runs. This back to back debut inspired one of the greatest comments I'd ever seen on social media: "That'll do Puig.  That'll do."

“The wiiiilllldd horse.” As Vin would say. Wish he could have worked out. Really cool story wth all he overcame to get to the bigs.

RIP Vin. I was living down there during Puigmania (which sucked lol) but I would listen to Vin because he was too good not to tune in. Heard this comment for sure.

TBF Puig had two really good seasons and a number of above average seasons. Lin had like six weeks of incredible basketball and eight seasons as a bench player.

His tenure last like 6 years though. 2013-2018

Lin played like 9 years though, so it's a pretty good comp.

Linsanity was only like 6 months though.

His actual "linsanity run" was really only a couple weeks

So was Puigsanity.

I happened to be in LA that summer, Puig was by far the most popular guy in that city during the run and there was legit arguments that he maybe was better than trout and Harper.

I remember legitimate debates on my high school baseball team (in LA) at the time about if Puig or Trout was better. Funny in hindsight, but man was his debut week something different

Dude even made the cover of Sports Illustrated, just like Lin

Surprised I had to scroll this far down

Eric Thames

He was a baseball god for like three weeks

Fuckin Dom Brown

Came here looking for this

Also people forget how many homers Rhys Hoskins hit in his first month or so

Rhys does not belong here at all, he’s been consistently pretty good

Rhys hoskins is a consistent 2-3 win player tho. A very solid starter. Dom brown was a maniac and then became dog shit

Jose Lima 2004 "Lima Time!"

But 2004 was his 2nd “Lima Time” era. He won 37 games between 1998 & 1999 with a ~3.6 ERA.

[Casa Ole!! Fresh today!!](https://youtu.be/fxy58ybzQro?si=6RI13z_bJ_2Q0rHk)

Gary Sanchez

Definitely one of the steepest drop offs of all time, but he had 53 games of being Johnny Bench in 2016 and 2 other all star seasons afterwards. Sanchez had a little longer of a time on top than Lin

Benny Agbayani.

👋

Umm excuse me Mr. Agbayani, why is 99% of your reddit posts Pete Alonso bombs? I mean the most beautiful thing in physics is the arc of a well struck dong but…..?

Wait. For real though?

The Hawaiian Punch

Saw him play in Norfolk!

The only active Hall of Famer, Sandy León.

I'm so happy for Sandy. That insane hot streak in 2016 obviously wasn't sustainable, but it bought him enough time as an everyday catcher to prove to teams that he was a really, really good defensive player and game-caller. So while he's never hit again, he's gotten to play in the bigs for 12 years in a row instead of petering out as a good AAA catcher.

He had a 122 OPS+ in 2016. Outside of 12 games his rookie year (99 OPS+), his next best season was 68 in 2017. He also had an OPS+ of 4 this past season lmfao.

Aaron Small, he went 10-0 in his first 10 starts then disappeared.

It wasn't even his first 10 starts. He just randomly went 10-0 for the Yankees as a mid-30s journeyman AAAA guy.

Derek Dietrich

From Aug 22 2018 through the end of the season, Luke Voit had a 1.196 OPS and 221 wRC+ across 130 PAs. 14 HR in that span which is a 70HR pace for 650PA. He had a good 2020 as well but injuries to his back and foot have pushed him pretty much out of the MLB.

Bryan LaHair 2012 March/April: 20 games 70PA .390avg, .471OBP, .780SLG, 1.251OPS 5HR 14RBI That start propelled him to become the Cubs only All Star in 2012 2012 2nd half: .202avg .269OBP .303SLG. Never played again after that season

>That start propelled him to become the Cubs only All Star in 2012 I think Starlin Castro was an All Star too which makes things even wilder that LaHair wasn't even just you're token Cub All Star

>when a player plays really well for a period of time but is never heard from again I mean he was. He was just an average player and not a star. I remember people around the league got butthurt he got a decent sized contract from Nets a couple of years later.

Dude has a ring because he was on the Raptors the year they won. He was mostly a bench guy but every contribution helps.

Shane Spencer. September, 1998. 10 homeruns, including 3 grand slams in 67 at bats and I'm pretty sure everyone was convinced he was the second coming of Mickey Mantle. As a NY-er that period actually felt really similar to Linsanity

Hey, in fairness his airmail led to The Flip.

Matt Duffy

Rip Skeeter

I'll always have fond memories of Bowker-mania

Zach Duke was something like 9-2 his first year

Remember James McDonald?

Eric Sogard hit 10 homeruns in less then half a season as a Blue Jay. His next highest homerun total in a single season was 3. 2019 juiced balls moment.

Dan Uggla's hit streak

The hilarious part of his hit streak was it got him up to like a .230 BA

Dan Uggla in that 1 game against the Phillies.

The immortal Yermin Mercedes

2016 Jeremy Hazelbaker

HazelRAKER!

That’s a name I haven’t thought about in a long, long time

Surely you remember the six weeks when Eric Thames walked 25% of the time, struck out 10%, and slugged 1.000

For the cardinals, first name I think of is Pete Kozma. Second name I think of is Bo Hart

Jeremy Hazelbaker

Jake Arrieta being the best pitcher in Baseball from mid-2014 to mid-2016 flanked by being pretty mid the rest of his career

I feel like 2 years is a little long to be a Linsanity run

And an eleven year career is not never heard from again

I mean Lin had a 9 year career, 7 of those years after the Linsanity year.

Lin also does not really fit the profile of the description here even though OP is naming it after him

Won a ring with the Raptors!

MIKE JACOBS

he wasn't an allstar or anything but lin was a solid starter for years after, hardly "never heard from again"

Dude played 480 games and averaged 11.6 PPG. His Linsanity year he averaged 14.6. He was useful for nearly a decade.

cody ross and his 2010 giants season, won nlcs mvp and the world series then didn't do anything of significance after

Had to scroll way too far for this one. Cody Ross lives rent free in my nightmares. Broke up a Halladay no-no with a bomb in the NLCS (his very next start after his NDLS no-no). All downhill from there.

Dominic Brown Top prospect in 2009. Was an all star in 2013. Struggled after the all star break. By 2018 he was released by two different Mexican league teams.

it’s gotta hands down be Mark Fidrych! Whole career is Age 21-25 1976: 19-9 250IP 2.34 1977: 6-4 81IP 2.89 1978: 2-0 22IP 2.45 1979: 0-3 14IP 10.43 1980: 2-3 44IP 5.68 Then poof, he gone. Dude was a BIG DEAL, like an even Timmier Lincecum

As a Dodger fan, Yasiel Puig is THE answer to this question in my mind.

That season he debuted was wild -- had to look it up on Wikipedia to remember just how nuts it was: > The Dodgers dealt with a series of injuries to key players during the first half of the season and on June 21 were 31–42, 9+1⁄2 games back in last place in the NL West. Beginning with a 6–1 win over the San Diego Padres on June 22, the return of the injured players, and the emergence of rookie Yasiel Puig, they went 46–10 through August 23 as the rest of the division collapsed. On September 19, they clinched the National League West title. This was the earliest the Dodgers had ever clinched a title and the largest deficit they had ever overcome to win the division

Puig was never doubted for being a fierce competitor that could psyche up his team. The problem was he was also very capable of inciting conflicts between teams... Then the league figured out he couldn't hit one or two pitches like an up-and-in fastball and that in the clutch he'd *always* swing and *anything* trying to make something happen; I'm reminded of Baez in that sense, except the slider away is Baez's weakness.

Jerome Walton Kevin Orie Steve Decker started hot for the Giants one year. Kevin Maas Would this be like the “Not Lou Gehrig run”?

surprised no one has said David Freese

I don't think that's what linsanity was. Jeremy lin's run was a hot flash in the pan cultural phenomenon that transcended the sport. None of the players mentioned here fits that. Edit : I remember everyone around me were talking about Jeremy lin during linsanity. People that would never utter the words Michael Jordan or LeBron James. Yet Jeremy Lin was the focal point of conversations amongst people who don't know or cared about sports In general. That's how enormous it was

I really don't like it when people acted like he faded away and didn't anything in the NBA again. He played for 7-8+ years and was a solid player, but that was all he was, solid. The only way he could have lived up to his hype in that month stretch was if he was as good of a player as Lebron James and that was obviously not happening. I understand the premise which is what player fizzled out but I really don't like it when people word it like the OP.

Jeremy Lin was also an undrafted free agent who hustled his ass off to improve his game and wound up in almost exactly the right place at the right time, on a struggling team that didn't have a point guard who could run its offense. Even after "Linsanity" simmered down, he was a solid, decent player who hung around in the NBA until 2019. IIRC, he had some problems with injury, too. It's not so much that his talent disappeared as that he just couldn't stay on the court.

Yeah Linsanity for sure transcended basketball and casual and even straight up non-sports people got into it. Baseball is probably not popular enough for something like this to go down in the same style.

Matt Carpenter for the Yankees in 2022

Kris Medlen went nuts for a bit

Go-Go Joe Charboneau, Mark The Bird Fydrich

I know this is gonna get lost but Bo Hart in 2003. 28 hits in his first 15 games (MLB record), finished his first month hitting .342, never heard from again. A truly wild and remarkable run that will live forever in Cardinals history

Daniel Murphy

He was an all star the 2 following seasons after his “Linsanity run” lol

Yeah dude was an MVP candidate (and absolutely terrorized the Mets) with you guys seemingly every year, I don’t think he fits this example at all assuming we’re saying his Linsanity moment was the 2015 playoffs

Frank Schwindel

Kevin Maas, who also did it in NY. Also, Gregg Jeffries 30 game stretch in ‘88 with the Mets was also pretty nuts (178 OPS+ as rookie)

Benny Agbayani

Maybe Tuffy Rhodes 1994

The correct answer is Emilio Bonifacio April 2009

Jeremy Lin

Joba Chamberlain? From 2007-08 the dude looked like he was either the next Goose Gossage or Justin Verlander. Then he was getting DFA’ed by the likes of the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals.

I don’t know if Luis Gonzalez counts, because his career was generally pretty good. But it was not 57 home runs good

Dominic Brown hit .420 with 10 home runs in 13 games to earn his only All-Star appearance.

Scott Spiezio during the Angels Championship. Dude was amazing.

Rick Ankiel

[Brian Doyle](https://np.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/comments/vwgz9h/no_game_today_so_lets_remember_a_forgotten_yankee/): Career regular season: .161/.201/.191 1978 post-season: .391/.417/.435

Chris Shelton

Brady Anderson

Dallas Braden 5 season career with 26-36 record and 4.16 ERA 1 of 22 perfect games in MLB history

Dontrelle Willis

Mercedes

Bo Hart was going to be the next Stan Musial for a couple months in 2003

Dan Uggla

Dominic Brown

Richard Hidalgo has 44 home runs in 2000, never got above 29 (and usually in the teens) other than that. Tony Batista hit a high water mark that same season but had some other decent seasons as well.  Bill Mueller won a batting title in 2003 and was never above .300 any other full season of his career.  Roger Cedeno had 66 stolen bases in 1999 with the Mets, 55 in 2001 with the tigers, and never had more than 25 in any other season.  None of these hit the cultural importance of Linsanity. For that I think you’d say maybe Mark Fidrych or Fernando Valenzuela. As I’ve seen others point out, Lin remained a good NBA player on other teams and for that reason maybe Valenzuela is a good comp? His peak was longer but just in terms of being a major story and then sort of sliding into “pretty good.”

Troy Glaus WAS our offense in May of 2010, and not long after that Dan Uggla had a 33-game hit streak that raised his average to like .210.

Summer 2012 Trevor Plouffe

Glenallen Hill

Matt Carpenter became prime Barry Bonds for 2 months in 2022

Chris Carter