Active hit leaders

[etsmith]

I know there's been a lot of talk about there being no more 300 win pitchers, but I'm starting to wonder about whether there will be any more 3000 hit club members. The supposedly best hitter of our generation is Mike Trout and he doesn't even have 2000 hits. Does anybody know what's causing this lack of hit accumulation?

[gonefishin]

Yes, steroid enforcement and good pitching.

[G1911]

BB, K, HR three outcome dynamic. Hits and batting average are not valued very highly and are not the driving outcome, so careers of great players are not spent focusing on trying to get them first and foremost.

Trout, of course, is a great rate stat player who has missed a very large amount of time to his frequent injuries and that is a whole separate reason independent of era.

[jayshum]

Freddie Freeman and Jose Altuve are the active career leaders in hits with 2217 and 2165, respectively. Both are 34 so they have a shot at 3000 hits.

Manny Machado has 1830 hits and is 31 with 9 more years to go on his contract so another possibility.

[cgjackson222]

I agree the higher frequencies of walks (younger players are taught at an early age to value walks more than they use to, and to value making contact less), and the prevalence of strikeouts are a big reason for fewer hits. There seem to be a few reasons why players are striking out more. Below are a couple:

The growing specialization of staffs allows managers to create matchups that are to their teams’ advantages. And the amount of information available to teams about hitters’ tendencies allows them to create scouting reports and battle plans that are more effective. Players trying to hit more Home Runs is another. They are sitting on a pitch, and if they guess wrong, they frequently strike out.

I do think Jose Altuve and Freddie Freeman have a chance to get to 3,000 hits if they can stay healthy/productive for 5 more years, but that puts them around 40 years old.

[packs]

I agree. Walks are valuable today even though it's a boring stat. Joey Votto has 2,153 hits but he's also got 1,365 walks.

Betts might have an outside shot at getting there. He's a little over halfway there now and 31 years old, but lost a full season to the pandemic. He's seems dynamic enough that he at least has a shot to play another 9 or 10 seasons.

[etsmith]

Walks are a big thing, I remember people complaining back in the day because Frank Thomas walked too much instead of swinging at everything they threw at him.