Huff streaking through Baltimore, At 19 and counting, resurgent slugger showing no signs of slowing down

Team: Baltimore Orioles Position: Designated hitter Stats: .302 AVG, 24 HR, 76 RBIs, .550 SLG Measurements: 6'4", 235 lbs. Nicknames: None. Don't know if one is really necessary when your name is Aubrey. Signature: Returning to A-list slugging form after a three-year hiatus.
Mysteries: Where did this resurgence come from? Did anyone actually call it? What has he been doing the past couple seasons? How impressive is his 19-game hitting streak? How obvious is it that his streak will snap within 24 hours now that he is being profiled as an Unusual Suspect? How traumatizing was the "Three Little Pigs" story for him growing up? Did you know that there have been five players in the history of baseball with the first name Aubrey?

Background
Aubrey Huff used to be awesome.

Back in the early years of this millennium, before the days of the iPhone and the Montauk Monster, Huff was the one Tampa Bay Devil Ray worth drafting in fantasy leagues.

And for good reason. In 2003, the then-26-year-old hit .311 with 34 homers and 107 RBIs, which -- according to Baseball-Reference.com, earned him 24th place in American League MVP voting, roughly 400 spots better than Bobby Higginson.

Simply put, Huff had the look of a future superstar.

But it didn't exactly turn out that way. He finished his 2005 and '06 seasons with batting averages in the .260s and clubbed a pedestrian 15 home runs just a season ago. Now with a 19-game hitting streak and a whopping .550 slugging percentage under his belt, Huff is back swinging his big bat of yore and looks every bit the hitter many thought he would be.

So how did the reinvention of Aubrey Huff come about?

To the evidence!

The evidence
Cleaning up: Huff has absolutely been loving life as the Orioles' cleanup hitter this season, hitting .320 with 14 homers, 46 RBIs and 18 doubles over 70 games in the four-hole. That's a huge improvement over the .190-0-3 line he posted in his 14-game audition as the team's cleanup hitter just a year ago.

Free bird: One of the main reasons for Huff's slugging resurgence can be traced to his improved fly-ball rate. The 31-year-old primary designated hitter has been smashing the ball in the air a career-best 41.6 percent of the time, a full 10.3 percentage points better than the mark he posted in his career year of 2003. More balls in the sky means more homers. Yes, it's really that simple.

ISO good: If it looks like Huff is swinging a more powerful bat this year than ever before, it's because he is. Charm City's finest is sporting a career best .248 isolated power average (ISO), a formula created by people much smarter than me that looks something like this: 2B+3B+(HR*3))/AB. See, moms and dads? Unusual Suspects is not just some column stacked with baseball rubbish and nonsense -- it can also help your kids with their algebra homework!

Too legit to quit: As per usual, it's time to see if Huff's comeback campaign is actually legitimate or merely a result of some favorable luck. Huff is currently donning a .312 batting average on balls in play, which is a bit higher than average but surely not enough to blemish his genuinely stellar year.

Conspiracy theory
Of course, there are always alternative explanations.

In November 2007, just a couple months after the Orioles finished a disappointing 69-win season, Huff offered some disparaging remarks about Baltimore's not-so-hoppin' nightlife on the "Bubba the Love Sponge Show."

Now, as both one who grew up in the humdrum suburbs of Detroit and who's watched every episode of "The Wire," I can somewhat empathize with Huff's sentiments.

However, the Orioles' ardent fan base did not take Huff's comments lightly and busted out the boo birds (see what I just did there?) every time their starting designated hitter came up to the plate on Opening Day 2008.

Clearly, it behooved Huff to get his loyal fans back on his side. So he did what any other player would do in such a circumstance. He took a page straight out of Frank "The Tank" Ricard's playbook and started going streaking.

From the quad to the gymnasium, Huff has been streaking for 19 straight games, hitting .390 with five homers, 15 RBIs and 14 runs while becoming the toast of Baltimore in the process.

With such staggering numbers, Huff is back having an awesome time in Baltimore. In fact, I think the entire town knows Huff's having an awesome time.

And wouldn't you want those times to keep on going?

(mlb.com)