Derek Jeter: 3,000 Hits and an Analysis of His Current Season

After an unbelievable five for five day against Tampa Bay, Derek Jeter became the 28th player in Major League Baseball history to reach 3,000 hits in his career.

His 3,000th hit was also the 237th home run of his career.

Currently, Jeter is batting .270 with 3 home runs, 24 RBI, and a .330 OBP at the All-Star break. Let's look at his historic season month by month. 

April

Ignoring the two at-bats on March 31, Derek Jeter batted .256 in April, the first month of the season. He put together a total of 23 hits in 90 at-bats, missing just one game on April 28.

The Yankee captain started off the season a little more slowly than usual. In comparison, over the course of the previous three seasons, Jeter hit .298 with a .336 OBP and .443 SLG.

Not only was his ability to get on base down slightly to .313, but most notably, his power was almost non-existent, slugging just .278. Out  of his 23 hits in April, two were doubles and the remaining 21 were singles.

His best performance of the month was his 4-6 performance against the Baltimore Orioles, in which he had one run, one RBI and one of the two doubles he had that month.

The New York Yankees went 14-9 in the month of April. 

May

May was a significant improvement for Derek Jeter, batting .274 over the course of the month, raising his average to .264.

It's slightly lower than his average of the last three seasons—.289.

Still, his offensive numbers rose from the first month with a .338 OBP and .371 SLG, but they are still worse than the .359 OBP and .402 SLG Jeter has averaged from 2008-2010.

Again, Jeter remained healthy this month, missing just one game on May 5 against the Detroit Tigers.

The Yankee captain's best performance was likely his 4-6 performance against the Texas Rangers in which he hit two home runs, scored two runs and had three RBI.

The New York Yankees went just 15-14, despite Jeter's efforts in the month of May, losing six in a row at one point.

June

While Derek Jeter hit just .239 in the month of June, he only played 11 games, thus his average dropped to just .260.

Jeter managed a .314 OBP and .304 in the 46 at-bats he had in the month. His average from 2008-2010 is usually .283 with a .368 OBP and .407 SLG.

Jeter's best performance of the shortened month was likely on June 12 in which he went 2-5 with a run and two RBI, pictured above.

Most notably however, is that during the course of his stint on the disabled list with a strained calf, the Yankees went 14-4, which caused many to raise questions about Jeter's importance in the lineup.

Overall, New York posted a 18-8 record in the month of June. 

July

While July is another shortened month, the numbers Derek Jeter has posted in his 27 bats are hopeful, mostly due to his five hit game against the Tampa Bay Rays in which he earned hit No. 3,000.

Jeter's numbers for the month are .370 with a .393 OBP and .630 SLG. Just for comparison, he has twice as many doubles thus far in the six games he's played in July than he had in all of April.

Obviously, Jeter's 5-5 effort, in which he scored two runs, had two RBI, a stolen base, and a home run was the performance of his year, if not his career, simply because it was so historic.

Earning hit No. 3,000 and becoming just the second player to do it with a home run—Wade Boggs was the other—will likely may July 9 a day that is often referred to in Yankee history.

New York is 5-4 thus far this month, winning their series over Tampa Bay going into the All-Star break. 

Remainder of the Season

While many believe that Jeter is never going to put up the same numbers that he did in his youth, he still seems to be improving over the course of this season.

Jeter's average sits at .270 with a .330 OBP and .353 SLG.

The last three seasons indicate that Jeter tends to improve dramatically in the months of August, September, and October, as he's averaged .321, .317, and .421 in those months respectively.

Now that Jeter has had the physical rest of his time on the disabled list as well as the All-Star break in addition to the relief of pressure from getting hit No. 3,000, it's likely there will be some improvement to his current numbers as the season continues.