Taking aim at milestones
Pujols and Cabrera may get all the ink, but others are nearing big numbers, too
A couple of baseball’s greatest milestones are in reach.
Albert Pujols is taking direct aim at 700 home runs, and Miguel Cabrera is working his way toward 3,000 hits.
The 41-year-old Pujols is just 37 homers short of his target, and he seems willing to play multiple seasons to reach the magic number.
“If I’m close to it, why not?” Pujols said in an interview with USA Today last month. “I don’t try to chase numbers, but 700 is a big number. If I don’t re-sign with the Angels, I’m going to have to find a team that will give me that opportunity.”
Cabrera not only hopes to reach the 3,000-hit milestone — which is 131 hits away — but he is also targeting 500 home runs.
“I hope so. We can do both,” he said in spring training. “I hope I can get to 500/3,000 this year. It's one of my goals this year. Mentally, I feel good. I feel mentally strong. I'm trying to go day by day and trying to play hard.”
Pujols and Cabrera will receive the most publicity for their chases this summer, but several other players are also approaching milestones in 2021. Below is a rundown of the key numbers for 10 hitting categories, based on statistics provided by Baseball-Reference.com through April 14.
Subscribe — free — to Baseball’s Best (and Worst)
A new installment will arrive in your email each Tuesday and Friday morning
Games played
Nearing milestones: Albert Pujols (Angels) at 2,871, Miguel Cabrera (Tigers) at 2,464.
Situation: Eight players in big-league history played at least 3,000 games, and 59 appeared in more than 2,500 games. Pujols and Cabrera are close to those respective milestones.
Prospects: Pujols has an outside chance of reaching 3,000 this year. He’s 129 games short of the mark, and he played 131 games in 2019, baseball’s last full season. Cabrera is a virtual cinch to make 2,500. He’s only 36 away.
Runs scored
Nearing milestones: Andrew McCutchen (Phillies) at 978, Nelson Cruz (Twins) at 961, Mike Trout (Angels) at 954.
Situation: Pujols is the overall leader among active players with 1,846 runs scored, and four others are above 1,000. McCutchen, Cruz, and Trout are knocking on the door to join them.
Prospects: All three are virtual locks to reach the 1,000-run threshold this season. Trout is the farthest back — he’s 46 away from the goal — but he scored almost that many runs (41) in last year’s truncated season alone.
Hits
Nearing milestones: Miguel Cabrera (Tigers) at 2,869, Joey Votto (Reds) at 1,917, Nicholas Castellanos (Reds) at 994.
Situation: Thirty-two batters rapped at least 3,000 hits during their big-league careers. Pujols is the only active member of that group at 3,243, but Cabrera is 131 short of joining. Teammates Votto and Castellanos are the closest to passing the 2,000- and 1,000-hit milestones, respectively.
Prospects: Cabrera has a chance to reach 3,000 hits this year, though he might cut it close. He produced 139 hits in 2019. The odds are much better for Votto and Castellanos to reach their targets in 2021. The latter could easily do it this month.
Batting average
Nearing milestones: Buster Posey (Giants) at .302, Mookie Betts (Dodgers) at .301, Albert Pujols (Angels) at .298.
Situation: Only eight active players with more than 3,000 plate appearances boast averages above .300, led by Cabrera at .313. Posey and Betts are the two lowest members of that elite group, while Pujols is the closest to joining.
Prospects: The odds are against Pujols and Posey, who haven’t had seasons above .300 since 2010 and 2017, respectively. Betts, who is off to a hot start in 2021, has the best chance of retaining membership in the .300-plus club.
Home runs
Nearing milestones: Albert Pujols (Angels) at 663, Miguel Cabrera (Tigers) at 488, Nelson Cruz (Twins) at 421.
Situation: The three batters above are the only active players with more than 400 home runs. They are, in fact, the only ones above 335. Pujols is just 37 homers away from 700, while Cabrera and Cruz are taking aim at 500.
Prospects: It would probably take two seasons, maybe three, for Pujols to reach 700, a barrier passed by only Barry Bonds, Henry Aaron, and Babe Ruth. Pujols hasn’t hit more than 23 homers in any season since 2016, and time is against him. He recently celebrated his 41st birthday. Cabrera has a decent chance of hitting his 500th this year, while the 40-year-old Cruz is still 79 away.
Runs batted in
Nearing milestones: Joey Votto (Reds) at 972, Justin Upton (Angels) at 964.
Situation: Who is the active RBI leader? Who else but Pujols at 2,104, followed by five current players who have driven in at least 1,000 runs. Votto and Upton are seventh and eighth on the active list, both within striking distance of four figures.
Prospects: Consider their RBI totals for the full season of 2019: 47 for Votto and 40 for Upton. If they repeat those figures this year, both will cross the 1,000-RBI threshold before the end of September.
Walks
Nearing milestones: Carlos Santana (Royals) at 999.
Situation: Three active players — Pujols, Votto, and Cabrera — have wangled more than 1,000 walks from opposing pitchers. All three have played at least 15 seasons. Santana, currently in his 12th year in the big leagues, is as close as possible to joining them.
Prospects: These statistics are a day off, so Santana may have reached the milestone already. He’ll certainly make it this month. He led the American League with 47 walks in 60 games last year, so his career total is likely to soar well above 1,000.
Strikeouts
Nearing milestones: Justin Upton (Angels) at 1,853, Chris Davis (Orioles) at 1,852, Brandon Crawford (Giants) at 993, Khris Davis (Rangers) at 986.
Situation: Six batters struck out more than 2,000 times in their careers, led by Reggie Jackson’s 2,597. Two current players could join that club as soon as this year. Upton struck out 176 times in 2018, the last time he played anything close to a full schedule. Chris Davis piled up 139 whiffs in only 105 games in 2019. Crawford and the younger Davis are the closest active players to 1,000.
Prospects: Upton and Chris Davis are both nearly 150 strikeouts away from 2,000, but they don’t seem likely to get enough playing time to reach the threshold this year. The two contenders for 1,000 should make it easily.
Stolen bases
Nearing milestones: Brett Gardner (Yankees) at 270, Andrew McCutchen (Phillies) at 192.
Situation: Billy Hamilton (307) and Elvis Andrus (305) are the only current big leaguers with at least 300 steals. Gardner is the closest to joining them, while McCutchen is the nearest to 200.
Prospects: Gardner and McCutchen could fly in their prime. Gardner led the American League with 49 steals in 2011, the same year that McCutchen pilfered 23, his third of five straight years with 20 or more. But they’re older and slower now, combining for only 20 steals in the past three seasons. Those milestones seem a long way off.
Hit by pitch
Nearing milestones: Justin Turner (Dodgers) at 94.
Situation: Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs is the acknowledged champion in this category. He has been plunked 155 times in his 11-year career, putting him 32 ahead of anybody else currently playing. Four other active batters have been hit more than 100 times, and Turner is the closest to joining their ranks.
Prospects: Turner should make the 100-plus club easily this year. He was hit six times in 42 games during 2020’s short season, breaking his five-year streak of double-digit HBPs.