Baseball, and the way fans and media view it and analyze it, has definitely changed throughout the years.
However, there is still an unwritten rule in MLB, specifically in award voting: whoever reaches 3,000 hits has his ticket to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The number, despite rate stats becoming much more important than totals in today’s world, still carries some heavy relevance.
That one in particular is still associated with hitting talent, consistency, and determination.
The 3,000 hits are still considered an amazing achievement.
Thousands of players have participated in at least one MLB game.
Thousands.
As of January 17, only 33 of them have accumulated 3,000 hits or more.
Miguel Cabrera, who retired in 2023, was the last to achieve the milestone, in April of 2022.
FOX Sports: MLB published a list of the active leaders in hits.
Here are the top 10 active MLB players with the most hits ⚾️💥
Will anyone on this list reach 3,000? pic.twitter.com/4ZEyWwCk0Y
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) January 17, 2024
Then, they asked whether people think any of them has a chance to actually reach 3,000.
Reaching the number is increasingly tough, with platoons and part-time roles.
Joey Votto, with 2,135 hits, has the most hits among active players.
However, he doesn’t have a team for 2024 and he is 40, so he is an extreme longshot.
Then, we have Freddie Freeman (2,114), Elvis Andrus (2,091), Andrew McCutchen (2,048), and Jose Altuve (2,047).
Among those stars, Freeman and Altuve are the most likely to get to 3,000 hits, but they have a lot of work to do.
Andrus is not a great hitter and his total is more of a result of having played for a really long time, while McCutchen is nearing the end of the line.
Freeman is 34 and Altuve is 33.
They are no spring chickens, but they remain at the top of their respective games.
It will be hard, but the pair of stars have a chance if they can remain healthy for four or five more seasons.
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