2,000 Career Hits Only has Happened 285 times
In a normal Major League Baseball game, a player usually has four at-bats on average in a nine inning game. Now most of the time, a player normally gets one hit in those four at-bats, if they get any at all. Thinking about it, if that player plays in all 162 regular season games, the likelihood of getting at least one hit in each game is very rare.
You figure then that an average to good player might get 150 hits during the year. So then a rare feat, something only accomplished by 285 players over the course of Major League Baseball since stats were kept, is to get 2,000 hits in a career. Now though, the Atlanta Braves have the chance to have a second player on their team in 2017 record his 2,000 career hit. Nick Markakis accomplished the feat a little over three weeks ago and now Brandon Phillips can accomplish the same accomplishment in the next few days.
More from Braves News
- Braves News: Braves re-sign Jackson Stephens
- Braves News: Braves prospect rankings, Correa deal with Mets at risk, more
- Why the Atlanta Braves won’t extend Max Fried
- Braves News: Braves acquire Diaz, moves around the division, more
- Atlanta Braves 2012 Top Prospects Review: J.R. Graham
Strong Careers Lead To Hits, But Rare For Teammates
Nick Markakis is in his twelfth season in the major leagues and recorded his 2,000 hit earlier this month on August 3rd. Playing nine years in the American League, Markakis had 1,547 hits for the Baltimore Orioles before signing with the Braves three years ago. Now totaling 2,022 career hits, Markakis has 475 hits with the Braves over a span of three years.
Phillips, who is in his sixteenth year in the big leagues, but his first year in Atlanta, played the first four years of his career for the Cleveland Indians, where he only compiled 89 hits over that span. After that, it was probably thought that he would have to play another twenty years to be close to 2,000 hits. Things changed though when he got to the Cincinnati Reds, as over the next eleven years, he had 1,774 hits to edge him closer to the mark. This year with the Braves, Phillips has turned it on, ranking second on the Braves this season with 134 hits, making him three hits shy of 2,000 for his career.
If and when Phillips records his 2,000 career hit in 2017, the Braves will set the mark of being the first team since 2011 to have teammates record 2,000 career hits in the same season when the Texas Rangers’ Adrian Beltre and Michael Young did it, which happened before that in 2006 when Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees placed their names in the record books.
Next: The Morning Chop: time to have Albies bat leadoff?
To think about it, not counting Phillips, only 285 players all-time have had 2,000 hits in their major league career. 285 players out of the hundreds of thousands of players who have played professional baseball over the years. Not only will Phillips be commended when he achieves the feat, each player who has accomplished 2,000 career hits is commended as well.