It’s the 23rd day of the year and we are getting close to seeing the first pitch of the 2023 season. In the 2023 season, there might be some exciting moments to see several players reach major career milestones.
First of all, let’s look at pitchers.
Clayton Kershaw signed a 1-year deal with the Dodgers, and Adam Wainwright will return to the Cardinals. They are very close to winning the 200th game of their career. Kershaw needs 3 wins to reach this milestone and Wainwright needs 5 wins. They each earned 10+ wins last year. Hence, if they stay healthy, it shouldn’t be a big problem for them.
Last year, Gerrit Cole led the majors with 257 strikeouts. By far in his career, Cole already punched out 1930 batters. His SO/9 was 11.53 in 2022. If he keeps pitching as he always does, we shall be able to see him reach 2000 strikeouts before the All-Star game. Nonetheless, it’s still unclear whether Zack Greinke could reach 3000 strikeouts since he’s still a free agent now.
In addition, Craig Kimbrel now has 394 saves and Kenley Jansen has 391 saves. They are very close to collecting the 400th save of the career. Jansen led the NL with 41 saves last year. He signed a 2-year deal with the Red Sox and he shall be the new closer of the Red Sox. However, Craig Kimbrel was removed from his closer role last September while he was playing for the Dodgers. Kimbrel signed a 1-year deal with the Phillies, but he might have to fight for a closer job in spring training.
Good news for the Pirates. Andrew McCutchen is going back to Pittsburgh. He signed a 1-year deal with the Pirates. He had 122 hits in 2022 and needs 52 hits to join the 2000-hit club. The Pirates fans will be extremely excited to see him reach 2000 hits. Jose Altuve has spent 12 seasons with the Astros. From 2014 to 2017, he collected at least 200 hits each season. He had 158 hits last year and this season, he needs 65 hits to join the 2000-hit club. Additionally, Freddie Freeman led the majors with 199 hits in 2022. He needs 97 hits to reach the 2000th hit of his career. These hitters are very consistent and we shouldn’t be surprised to see them reach this milestone. Moreover, Elvis Andrus is very close to joining the 2000-hit club, however, he hasn’t inked a new contract yet.
Giancarlo Stanton collected 78 RBI in 110 games last year and so far, he has 971 RBI in his career. If he stays healthy, Stanton should be able to collect at least 29 RBI to reach 1000 RBI. Nolan Arenado surely had a great 2022 season, hitting .293/.358/.533 with 30 home runs and 103 RBI in 148 games. Perhaps, Arenado will reach 1000 RBI before Giancarlo Stanton? Furthermore, Carlos Santana signed a 1-year deal with the Pirates. In 2021, he had 69 RBI and he collected 60 RBI last year. It will be interesting to see whether he will reach 1000 RBI in 2023.
Finally, let’s look at which players are close to reaching 300 home runs. Nolan Arenado has 299 home runs. Maybe Arenado will crush the 300th home run of his career in the first game of the 2023 season? Freddie Freeman blasted 21 home runs last year and it might not be very difficult for Freeman to reach 300 home runs in 2023. Additionally, McCutchen had 17 home runs in 2022 and he needs 13 home runs to reach 300 HRs. Furthermore, Bryce Harper already crushed 285 home runs in his career. Harper underwent Tommy John surgery last November and he needs some time to recover before rejoining the Phillies’ lineup. Pitchers and catchers will report in less than a month and very soon, we will be able to watch spring training games. Moreover, the regular season will begin on March 30. Let’s see which players will be the first to reach the milestone.
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