Astros' Magee delivered 12 straight hits

The Major League record for consecutive at-bats with a hit is 12, shared by Pinky Higgins (who did it with the Red Sox in 1938) and Walt Dropo (Tigers, 1952).

Though the Appalachian League is several rungs below the Majors, Greeneville Astros second baseman Josh Magee joined some elite company with 12 consecutive hits of his own from Aug. 13-16. The streak featured three doubles and nine singles with one walk thrown in before he struck out looking to open the seventh inning of the Astros' 4-3 loss at Pulaski on Aug. 16.

"I wanted another hit, but I was satisfied with 12-for-12," Magee said after the game. So was MiLB.com, which awarded him the 2011 MiLBY for Best Short-Season Game.

Magee was the Astros' 18th-round pick out of Hoover (Ala.) High School (which plays its baseball games at Regions Park, home of the Double-A Birmingham Barons) in 2010. The infielder, who turned 20 on Oct. 1, batted .227 in 46 games with the Gulf Coast League Astros in the summer of 2010.

He opened the 2011 campaign with Greeneville and struggled mightily at the plate early on, going 4-for-30 (.133) in his first nine games. In mid-July, he went 0-for-14 over five contests, and only a modest streak of hits in six of seven games at the end of the month lifted him above the Mendoza line at .202.

Entering Greeneville's game at Bristol on Aug. 13, Magee was batting .200 and had gone 1-for-15 in his previous four outings, which were spent batting eighth and ninth in the Astros' order.

Magee did not play in the team's 8-3 win at Bristol on Aug. 12, but manager Omar Lopez played a hunch the next night, inserting the right-handed hitter atop his lineup despite his .200/.275/.248 line. The move paid rewards immediately as Magee led off the game with his fourth double of the season, later scoring on a double by shortstop Jean Batista.

Magee singled again in the second inning, then picked up his third hit in the fourth before being thrown out trying to steal second base to end the frame. He walked in the seventh and reached on a bunt single in the ninth.

The second baseman had collected no more than two hits in any of his first 37 games of the season -- and done that just five times. Atop the order Aug. 13, he went 4-for-4 with a double, a walk and a run scored.

Magee was back in the No. 1 slot Sunday. He again doubled and scored to open the game, doubled again in the third and added singles in the fifth, seventh and ninth. The Astros fell, 11-7, despite outhitting the Sox, 16-10, but Magee delivered his first career five-hit game -- he went 4-for-5 with a homer and six RBIs for the GCL Astros on Aug. 12, 2010 -- and was now nine for his last nine.

The Astros had Monday off as they headed to Pulaski, but the rest day didn't cool off Magee. He opened Tuesday's contest with a single to center and again gave Greeneville an early lead by scoring the game's first run.

He singled to right to lead off the third and nabbed second for his 12th stolen base of the season, but was left stranded. Up again with two outs in the fourth, Magee popped a single into left field for his 12th consecutive hit. His coaches retrieved the ball and told him he'd tied a record, Magee said.

"I've just been looking to stay through the middle and use my hands," he said. "I'm not trying to do too much, really."

After striking out to end the streak in the seventh, Magee was left on deck in the ninth. The Mariners won the game, 4-3, on a walk-off shot by Dillon Hazlett.

Though unable to maintain his streak of perfection, Magee remained hot throughout the remainder of the season. He lifted his batting average 68 points to .268 in the three games and finished the campaign with a .283 mark after collecting hits in 10 of his remaining 13 games. He batted .376/.421/.482 in 23 August games.

"I'm just not trying to do too much and stay with the plan at the plate that the hitting coach had been teaching us the whole year," Magee said. "[It's about] trying to get ahead in the count, not going after the first pitch, getting your pitch and hitting it."

Getting his pitch and hitting it -- 12 straight times -- made Josh Magee one of the standout performers of the 2011 Minor League season.