MLB 2022: The Long and Winding Thread

Eloy Jiménez suffers 'significant' hamstring injury after stumble; White Sox hopeful it's not season-ending

Eloy Jimenez can't catch a break. It looks like he might have a second consecutive season mostly ruined by an injury. I just wonder if this was avoidable. He had been playing despite hamstring soreness and now he has a "significant" hamstring injury that the White Sox hope isn't season-ending.

 

Oh....Yankee FANS!

 

That could contribute, but the cold, hard fact about 3,000 hits is that you've got to average 200 hits over a 15-year period to get there, or 175 over 18 or 150 over 20. But we're now seeing that hits are much harder to come by, as pitchers throw harder, defenses are shifting and hitters are making less contact in an effort to hit more home runs.

Not one player had 200 hits in 2021 -- Trea Turner led the majors with 195 -- and only nine had at least 175.

So Take Vlad Guerrero Jr. as an example. He had 188 hits as a 22 year old in 2021, giving him a total of 372. In order to get to 3,000 by age 36? He needs to AVERAGE that same 188 hits over the next 14 seasons.

Or looking at it a different way: He's currently hitting .290 for his career. That means he needs at least 10,345 career at bats to get 3,000 hits at that pace.

To reach 3,000 hits, you have to be injury-free, defy the aging curve and put a lot of balls in play. As George Brett said, "3,000 hits means you made at least 7,000 outs."

 

I was a little kid at the time, but I remember that when Musial got his 3000th, he was the first batter in some time, like decades, to do so, I think since the Waners. Of course, World War II interrupted many careers in that time period. But it's always been hard to do.

 

Ted Williams didn't reach 3,000 hits because he lost three full seasons to World War II and two more to the Korean War. But he also walked too damn much: 2,021 times. You could argue his incredible eyesight was actually a detriment to reaching that milestone.

Mike Trout isn't going to have 3,000 hits despite being the best hitter of his generation for a similar reason: He's so good at taking walks that he's only had more than 175 hits twice in his career. In order for Trout to reach 3,000 hits (and he's not even halfway there), he'll need to average 175 hits for the next nine seasons. I'd love to see it, but the odds are long.

 

Wade Boggs was one of the rare members of the 3000 hit club who also excelled at drawing walks. Led the AL in it like three times.

 

And the Red Sox cost him at least 300 MLB hits by keeping him at Pawtucket for two years longer than necessary because he didn't "hit with power." Then he hit 40 or more doubles for 8 of his first 9 full years in the majors.

 

It was weird watching it live — one of those plays where he’s trying to beat out an infield hit and hits first base awkwardly.

But instead of an ankle or knee injury, he may have blown out his hamstring.

Tough break for Jimenez — and the White Sox, who already have quite a few injuries.

 

Part of it is bad luck, but wasn't that the hamstring that had been bothering him? If so, that seems like some Mets-level stupidity by management and the training staff, too.

 

I actually looked it up. Paul Waner got his 3000th in 1942, and Musial in 1958. That's not as long a gap as I remember it being portrayed at the time. But as I said, I was little.

 

Fortunately, I missed this.

 

He couldn’t handle the knowledge of Mr. Wayne’s illegal surveillance system.