Toronto's Scott Rolen(notes) owns the longest current hitting streak, 25 games, in the major leagues.

Even if Jamie McOwen stopped hitting right now, Rolen would have to keep going for three more weeks to pass him.

McOwen, a 23-year-old minor-leaguer in the Seattle Mariners organization, has at least one hit in 45 consecutive games — tying Willie Keeler of the Brooklyn Dodgers for the ninth-longest hitting streak in professional baseball history.

He did not play Thursday night, but with a hit in his next appearance, McOwen would tie Johnny Bates for the seventh-longest hitting streak in minor-league history. It's been nearly two calendar months — May 10 — since McOwen went hitless.

Joe Wilhoit, playing for Wichita in 1919, has the longest minor-league streak at 69 games. Joe DiMaggio, known for his legendary 56-game streak with the Yankees in 1941, happens to be second on the minor-league list at 61 games — done in 1933.

McOwen's streak is getting him attention. Earlier this week, after reaching 43 games, ESPN featured him (VIDEO) on its First Take show.

McOwen, in his second season at High Desert, an advanced Class-A team in the California League, is trying to not believe his own hype.

"I'm just enjoying the moment and trying not to read too much into it," McOwen says. "I don't want to talk myself out of anything.

"I try to stay out of my head, for sure."

McOwen was not considered much of a prospect based on his first two professional seasons. He never hit higher than .270, with little power, and had ugly K/BB ratios. He finished at .263/.324/.392 in '08, though he did steal 30 bases and was promoted to Class AA for the playoffs.

This season, McOwen is batting .355 with a .412 on-base percentage, .504 slugging, five homers and 53 RBIs.

And his longest hitting streak before this one? Eight, though in '08 he had five streaks of at least seven games.

What's behind his improvement?

It might have something to do with what appears a rigorous off-season training program, which surely has increased his agility and strength. The YouTubes are full of short videos, filmed by McOwen's trainer, that show him lifting sick amounts of weight and leaping great distances.

Whatever the inspiration, Bus Leagues Baseball put together a comprehensive look at his 45-game streak, which includes that kooky 33-18 game. Over the life of the streak, McOwen has hit .398 to raise his average from .270.

High Desert plays at Modesto at 10:05 p.m. ET on Friday. Listen to the game here.