Braves' B.J. Upton Records His 1,000th Career MLB Hit

Atlanta Braves outfielder B.J. Upton legged out an infield single off starter Mike Leake during Saturday's 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds to record the 1,000th hit of his major league career, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Upton struggled greatly in his first season with Atlanta in 2013, hitting only .184 while striking out 151 times in 391 at-bats over 126 games. It was by far the worst batting average of his career and came at a tough time for the Braves, who gave Upton a five-year, $75.25 million deal in November of 2012 to lure him away from the Tampa Bay Rays, with whom he made his MLB debut in 2004.

Upton has not been significantly better this season, hitting only .211 through 23 games, although he has hit safely in 13 of the last 16 games in which he has recorded an at-bat. As the season progresses, the 29-year-old could continue to see an improvement, as he recently started wearing prescription glasses for the first time in his life.

Though more than 1,000 players in Major League Baseball history have reached the 1,000-hit mark to date, Upton, who notched another hit Sunday, is in a solid position to move up the leaderboard in that category at this stage of his career.

Meanwhile, his younger brother Justin, who is also an outfielder for the Braves, is 85 hits away from reaching the 1,000-hit mark, a milestone he will likely reach this summer.

Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference unless otherwise noted/linked.