MLB Milestones Update

Derek Jeter needs 297 hits to reach 3,000.

 

Hits

Derek Jeter, with 2703 hits, only needs 297 more for his 3,000th. He should reach that number during the 2011 season.

Jeter will probably be 37 when he reaches the mark while will almost insure that he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

If he plays to the age of 40, he could end his career in the top five among career hits leaders.

Ken Griffey Jr., with 2,751 hits needs 249 more to reach 3,000, but only has 71 hits this season, so it is unlikely he will reach the 3,000 hit plateau.

Alex Rodriguez, at the age of 34, needs 10 hits to get to 2,500 so he could wind up with even more hits than Jeter if he plays to 40.

Manny Ramirez needs 32 hits to reach 2,500 hits at the age of 37, so it is unlikely he will have 3,000 hits by the age of 40.

No other player is likely to reach 3,000 hits in the near future.

 

Home Runs

Ken Griffey Jr. leads all active players with 625 home runs.

He will be 40 in November, so even if he plays another season, he would need 35 home runs to tie Willie Mays at 660.

Alex Rodriguez has 575 home runs and needs eight homers to tie Mark McGwire at 583. He needs 11 home runs to tie Frank Robinson at 586.

He should hit his 600th homer in May of next year, depending on how many he hits by the end of this season.

Jim Thome, with 564 home runs, needs five more homers to tie Rafael Palmeiro at 569. He also needs nine to tie Harmon Killebrew at 573.

If Thome returns in 2010, he could hit his 600th late in the season, but any extended injury would probably push that to 2011.

Manny Ramirez is next among active players with 540, but has hit only two homers since July 22 and September will be here next week.

Gary Sheffield has 509 homers and needs only four more to pass Mel Ott, Ernie Banks, and Eddie Mathews. He has Hall of Fame type numbers and at the age of 41 (in November), this could be his last season.

Carlos Delgado needs 27 homers to reach 500, while Andruw Jones is 12 homers short of 400.

Albert Pujols, with 359 homers should hit his 400th in the latter part of the 2010 season.

 

Runs Batted In

Ken Griffey Jr. leads all active players in runs batted in with 1,815.

He needs 12 to tie Al Simmons for 16th on the all time list. If not for all the injuries while playing with the Reds, he may already be the all time RBI champ.

Manny Ramirez, with 1,770 runs batted in, needs 130 to become the first player since Eddie Murray to join the 1,900 RBI club.

Alex Rodriguez, with 1674, needs only 31 RBI to pass Cal Ripken Jr., Reggie Jackson, and Frank Thomas on the list.

 

Wins

Randy Johnson more than likely has thrown his last pitch in the major leagues and has 303 wins.

He will be 46 next month and has nothing left to prove, so will probably wait for the call from the Hall of Fame in five years.

Jamie Moyer, with 257 wins, will be 47 in September. His chances of reaching 300 wins probably ended with his demotion to the bullpen.

His 5.22 ERA this season is the second-highest of his 23 season career, so that may be a sign his career is close to an end.

Andy Pettitte is next among active pitchers with 225 wins at the age of 37.

If he could pitch effectively for another three years, he probably could have about 260 wins.

Pedro Martinez is third among active pitchers with 216 wins, but will be 38 in October.

He has not won more than nine games in a season since 2005, so is not a threat to win 300 games.

John Smoltz, with 213 wins, is fourth at the age of 42.

He has only won six games since 2007. He probably could make the Hall of Fame right now, but a few more wins would increase his chances.

His 3,000 strikeouts and 154 saves may be more than enough for him to be inducted to the baseball shrine.

Tim Wakefield, with 189 wins, is not a threat to win 300 games at the age of 43.

No other pitcher is even close to reaching 200 wins, much less 300, besides Wakefield.

After Wakefield, the biggest threat is Roy Halladay, at 32, with 144 wins. Halladay is probably at least three years away from winning his 200th game.

 

Strikeouts

Randy Johnson leads active pitchers with 4,869 strikeouts and is 845 strikeouts behind the all time leader, Nolan Ryan, with 5,714.

Pedro Martinez, with 3,130 strikeouts, is second among active pitchers.

If he does make the Hall of Fame passing 3,000 strikeouts, that statistic will have more to do with it than his 216 wins.

John Smoltz is next with 3,053 strikeouts.

Jamie Moyer, with 2,322, is no threat to reach 3,000 strikeouts at the age of 46.

Javier Vazquez is 50th on the all time list with 2,201 strikeouts.

He needs 14 strikeouts to have 200 for the third straight season. At this rate, he should post his 3,000th strikeout in 2013.

His losing record of 137-138 won’t help his Hall of Fame chances. His 3.14 ERA is the lowest of his 12-year career and is much lower than his 4.67 ERA with the White Sox in 2008.

His Hall of Fame chances are very small, even if he does get 3,000 strikeouts, since he probably will finish with slightly over 200 wins—if that many.

If Bert Blyleven can’t get elected to the Hall of Fame with 3,701 strikeouts—the fifth-best in history—then Vazquez has almost no shot of being inducted.

Still, it is a great accomplishment to reach 3,000 strikeouts, since only 16 pitchers have accomplished that feat in the 140-year history of baseball.

Besides, Blyleven has 287 wins while Vazquez will barely reach 200 wins.

Andy Pettitte is the only active pitcher with more than 2,000 strikeouts, with 2,119.

Johan Santana, with 1,733 strikeouts, has a chance of reaching 3,000 strikeouts since he is only 30.

C.C. Sabathia is 29 and has 1,541 strikeouts, so he has a chance to reach 3,000 strikeouts after Santana.

We may not see many 3,000 strikeout pitchers in the future, with starters being pulled after five or six innings because of pitch counts.

Back in the 40s and 50s, the starting pitcher would stay in as long as they didn’t get hammered by the other team.

Warren Spahn made over 200 pitches in a game when he was locked in a 16-inning duel with Juan Marichal, with both pitchers pitching complete games.

Today neither pitcher would have pitched past the ninth inning, giving them no chance to record strikeouts in the other seven innings.

Nowadays, when a starting pitcher has pitched well, he sometimes is removed for a closer in the ninth inning anyway.