MLB: Major Milestones Coming Soon for Ichiro Suzuki, Alex Rodriguez and Others

At the age of 39, Carlos Beltran is having a resurgent season. In his first two seasons with the Yankees, Beltran hit .257/.320/.439 while averaging 490 plate appearances. This year, Beltran is showing more power than he has in years, with 18 home runs in 66 games, and has his best slugging percentage since 2006. He’s hitting .283/.316/.567. He also has a good chance to have more than 550 plate appearances for the first time since 2013.

Beltran benefitted from Alex Rodriguez spending time on the disabled list in May. While A-Rod was out, Beltran was able to primarily man the DH spot. This season, Beltran has hit .309/.355/.706 when he’s been in the lineup as the DH and .280/.307/.524 when he’s been the right fielder. A-Rod is back now, so Beltran could see his production wane a bit.

According to the Depth Chart rest-of-season projections at Fangraphs, Beltran is expected to have one RBI per 7.2 plate appearances from here on out, which means he needs another 65 plate appearances to reach the 1,500 RBI mark. Based on playing time this season, that would mean Beltran should get to this mark sometime around Saturday, July 9, which is during the weekend before the All-Star break. When he does, he’ll be the 55^th hitter in the history of baseball to drive in 1,500 runs. Unless, of course, Miguel Cabrera gets there first.

Projected date to reach 1,500 RBI—Saturday, July 9

Next: Miguel Cabrera Nearing 1,500 RBI

Coming into this season, Miguel Cabrera had two more career RBI than Carlos Beltran, but now Beltran currently leads Miggy by three. It should be noted that Cabrera has driven in his 1,488 runs in 8,626 plate appearances, while Carlos Beltran’s 1,491 RBI have come in 10,185 plate appearances. One of these guys will become the 55^th player in baseball history to reach 1,500 RBI. The 54^th was Adrian Beltre, who eclipsed the 1,500 RBI mark earlier this year, on May 28.

When Cabrera and Beltran reach 1,500 RBI, they will also join Adrian Beltre in the 400-homer, 1,500-RBI club. This club currently has 37 members and includes many of the greatest hitters in baseball history, including Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Ted Williams.

Miggy is projected to have one RBI every 6.6 plate appearance from here on out. He is currently 12 RBI shy of 1,500, so he’ll need somewhere around 80 plate appearances to get there. Based on his playing time this season, 80 plate appearances is about 18 games, meaning Cabrera should also get to 1,500 RBI just before the All-Star break. Cabrera and Beltran could get to 1,500 RBI on the same day.

Projected date to reach 1,500 RBI—Saturday, July 9

Next: Zack Greinke Nearing 2,000 Strikeouts

Greinke was knocked around pretty well over his first five starts this year. Twice he gave up seven earned runs. His ERA over that stretch was 6.16 and he averaged just over seven strikeouts per nine innings.

He’s been much better since. Over his last 10 starts, Greinke is 8-1 with a 2.41 ERA and a strikeout rate of 7.7 K/9. The 85 strikeouts he’s had this year have moved him to within 28 strikeouts of 2,000. When he gets there, he will be the 78^th pitcher in MLB history to strike out 2,000 or more hitters. He will also become one of seven active pitchers to have that many strikeouts. CC Sabathia is the active leader, with 2,630.

Greinke has a projected strikeout rate of 8.3 K/9 for the rest of the season. He’s averaged 6.8 innings in his 15 starts this season, so he’ll likely need another five starts to get to 2,000. Based on the Diamondbacks’ current starting rotation schedule, Greinke’s fourth start from now will come on the Sunday before the All-Star break, so he is likely to break the 2,000 mark in his first start after the All-Star break. This will likely happen in one of the games against the Dodgers from July 15-17.

Projected date to reach 2,000 strikeouts—Friday-Sunday, July 15-17

Next: Carlos Beltran Nearing 1,500 Runs

Over his 2,372 game career, Carlos Beltran has nearly equal the number of runs scored and RBI. He’s nine RBI from 1,500 and 13 runs away from that mark. When Beltran reaches these thresholds, he’ll be the 37^th player in history to have 1,500 runs and 1,500 RBI.

Beltran’s all-around abilities will put him into an even more exclusive club—players who have 1,500 runs, 1,500 RBI and 300 or more steals. This club currently includes just eight players. Beltran would be the ninth.

Finally, if you add Beltran’s 410 career homers into the mix, you find an even more exclusive club of players with 1,500 runs, 1,500 RBI, 300 steals and 400 homers. There have been just three players in baseball history to achieve all four benchmarks—Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Willie Mays. Carlos Beltran is likely to join that group sometime in the next month.

Beltran is projected to score one run every 8.4 plate appearances, so he will need around 109 plate appearances to get the 13 necessary to reach 1,500 for his career. Based on his playing time so far this year, Beltran is looking at late July to join the aforementioned 1,500-1,500-300-400 club.

Projected date to reach 1,500 runs—Monday, July 25

Next: Alex Rodriguez Nearing 700 Home Runs

If Alex Rodriguez wasn’t generally hated by non-Yankees fans throughout baseball, his upcoming 700^th home run would be cause for celebration. In the long history of baseball, only three players have hit 700 or more home runs. The legendary Babe Ruth was the first to do it, way back in 1934. The much-respected Hank Aaron joined the 700-club in 1973.

Thirty-one years later, in 2004, Barry Bonds hit his 700^th home run, but it was much less celebrated because of the cloud surrounding Bonds and PED use. Now we have A-Rod on the cusp of 700, with the same clouded reputation.

This has been a down year for Rodriguez. He got off to an ugly start, hitting just .194/.275/.444 through his first 20 games. He was put on the DL because of a strained right hamstring in early May and missed roughly three weeks. Since returning from the DL, A-Rod has hit just .244/.259/.385. Even more alarming has been his 26 strikeouts in 81 plate appearances (32 percent). Rodriguez has never struck out at this rate. His career strikeout rate is 18.7 percent, although he’s been in the low-20s since 2012.

He’s also not walking much, just 5.6 percent of the time. The good news (for non-Yankees fans) is that A-Rod still has one more year and $21 million on his contract.

A-Rod is projected to hit one home run every 23 plate appearances, so he’ll need around 115 plate appearances to reach 700 home runs in his career. Based on his playing time when healthy, it will likely take A-Rod another 34 games or so to get the five home runs he needs. This would put the end of July as the date to circle on your calendar.

Projected date to reach 700 home runs—Sunday, July 31

Next: Ichiro Suzuki Nearing 3,000 Hits

Ichiro has been one of the best stories of 2016. At 42 years old, Ichiro is hitting .349/.421/.394 and is now just 20 hits away from the 3,000 hit mark. He recently passed Pete Rose in total professional hits, if you count his hits in Japan (and don’t count minor league hits). Unlike with A-Rod, fans everywhere are rooting for Ichiro to get to 3,000. In May, the Miami Marlins handed out Ichiro bobbleheads with a movable hit counter for fans to click every time Ichiro bangs out another hit.

When Ichiro gets his 3,000^th hit, he will become the 30^th player in MLB history to do so. The other active member of the 3,000 hit club is Alex Rodriguez, and Adrian Beltre should get there sometime next season. Ichiro is also a member of the exclusive 3,000 hit / 500 steal club that currently features old school players Eddie Collins, Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb, along with more recent players Lou Brock, Paul Molitor and the great Rickey Henderson. All of those players started their careers when they were at least four years younger than Ichiro was when he came over to the U.S. from Japan.

Despite his great start to this year, Ichiro is not projected to continue his hot hitting. He currently has a .369 BABIP, which would be his highest mark since 2009. In four of the last five seasons, Ichiro’s BABIP has been .300 or lower. Ichiro is projected to hit .267/.316/.329 going forward, with one hit every 4.1 plate appearances.

Using this projection, Ichiro will need 82 plate appearances to get those 20 hits. Based on his playing time this year, Ichiro would need another 40 games or so to reach the mark. This puts his 3,000 hit sometime in the first week of August, not long after A-Rod hits his 700^th home run. If Ichiro continues his hot hitting, he could get his milestone hit before A-Rod.

Projected date to reach 3,000 hits—Friday, August 5

Next: Other Players Nearing Lesser Milestones

Matt Holliday is 41 hits away from 2,000 and 13 home runs from 300. He is projected to get to 2,000 hits in the first week of August, but it will be close on the 13 more home runs necessary to reach 300. He currently has 12 home runs in the Cardinals’ first 69 games, but his HR/FB rate is higher than it’s been since 2007, so he’s likely to slow down in the that department.

Mark Teixeira is three home runs away from 400 for his career. He’s been on the DL since June 4, but is expected to come off the DL on June 25. Teixeira’s really struggled this year. He’s currently hitting .180/.271/.263 with just three home runs in 188 plate appearances. He’s likely to hit better than that once he returns from the DL. Still, it could take him a few weeks to reach the 400 mark, likely sometime in July.

Next: Who Else Will Join the 3,000 Hit Club?

Another player currently on the DL is Felix Hernandez, sitting on 147 wins for his career. King Felix had four wins in his first 10 starts. He’s expected back from the DL sometime around the All-Star break, so it could be August when Felix joins Bartolo Colon (224), CC Sabathia (219), John Lackey (172), Justin Verlander (164), Zack Greinke (152), and Jake Peavy (150) as the only active pitchers with 150 or more career victories (not counting Freddy Garcia, who is pitching in the Mexican League).