Just before the All Star break – the unofficial end to the first half of the MLB season – Clayton Kershaw earned career strikeout number 3,000 to become the 20th pitcher in MLB history to do so. With the way MLB pitching is structured today, Kershaw may be the last pitcher to reach such a monumental milestone.
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh topped all of MLB with 38 home runs, just one shy of the record held by Barry Bonds. Raleigh has since added another home run to make a league leading 39 – more than Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani – home runs. He went on to be the first catcher to win the Home Run Derby. While it is difficult to predict what may happen the remainder of the season; Raleigh is in line to break a few more records this season. Salvador Perez currently holds the record of most homers for a catcher at 48; Ken Griffey Jr holds the record for most homers by a Mariner at 56; and then there’s Aaron Judge’s American League record of 62 home runs.
But what will the second half bring????
Philadelphia Phillies’ Bryce Harper has hit home run number 350 to become the youngest player to do so.
Fellow 3,000 strikeout club members Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer could possible reach career strikeouts 3,500. As of July 22, Verlander has 3,483 K’s and Scherzer has 3,435 K’s. If he has a good day, Verlander could reach the milestone after just two more starts; needing only 17. For Scherzer, he will need several starts to earn the 65 strikeouts needed to reach 3,500.
Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout needs five homers to reach the 400 mark; but he needs just two RBI’s to make it to the 1,000 mark.
Kansas City Royals’ Salvador Perez needs 24 RBI’s to reach the 1,000 RBI milestone.
New York Mets’ star Darryl Strawberry holds the record for the most homers in a Mets uniform; current player Pete Alonso has 247 homers and needs just five to tie the record of 252 homers and six to own the record with 253 home runs.
In 1969, MLB added a new stat to the list – pitcher’s saves. Los Angeles Angels’ pitcher currently has 464 career saves; he needs just 15 more saves to tie Lee Smith to tie for third in most career saves – only Trever Hoffman and Mariano Rivera have more.
You can’t steal bases when you are hitting home runs and you can’t set a home run record if you are stealing bases; but a few players have set some impressive records doing both… Ronald Acuña Jr set a record of 40 homers and 70 stolen bases in 2023 and shocking the baseball world, last year Japanese born player Shohei Ohtani hit set a new record with at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases. Chicago Cubs’ player Pete Crow-Armstrong currently has 26 home runs and 28 stolen bases; it is conceivable that he could become just the seventh player to join the 40-40 club with 40 homers and 40 stolen bases.
Leading the National League in home runs with 37, new father Shohei Ohtani has earned the Most Valuable Player Award three times. Back on the mound, Ohtani is looking for a fourth MVP Award to become only the second player to do so; joining Barry Bonds who went on to win the award seven times.
Texas Rangers’ pitcher Tarik Skubal is the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner; with an ERA of 2.19 over 127 2/3 innings pitched, he is looking to be just the second player to win back-to-back Cy Young Awards; Pedro Martinez is the only pitcher to do so.