11 players with milestones within reach in 2024

Last year was a career milestone-palooza, between Miguel Cabrera’s final season, 400 saves for Kenley Jansen and Craig Kimbrel, and more. With each new baseball season, there are always more milestones to look out for -- and 2024 is no exception to that rule.

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Here is a look at some major milestones on the horizon for this season and beyond, along with a breakdown of each player’s chances of getting there this year.

Spencer Strider: 500 strikeouts

Last year’s MLB leader enters with 483 K's in his career in just 320 2/3 innings, putting him on track to not just reach the milestone, but get there in fewer innings than any other pitcher who started in at least 50% of his appearances by the time of his 500th strikeout, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The five fastest, per those qualifiers:

Freddy Peralta: 372 IP
Shohei Ohtani: 388 2/3 IP
Tyler Glasnow: 398 1/3 IP
Dylan Cease: 399 1/3 IP
Jose Fernandez: 400 IP

Will it happen?

Barring something unforeseen, this one is just a matter of when. Strider is 17 away. His career high is 16 strikeouts, on Sept. 1, 2022, so his doing this in one game isn’t outside the realm of possibility. But even beyond that, 17 strikeouts should happen quickly for Strider, who has struck out 37.2% of batters he’s faced in his career.

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Corbin Burnes: 1,000 strikeouts

The Orioles’ newly acquired ace enters with 870 career strikeouts in 709 1/3 innings. While he won’t top the list, Burnes is on pace to have among the fewest innings to the mark among pitchers who started in at least 50% of their appearances by the time of their 1,000th strikeouts, according to Elias.

The list:

Robbie Ray: 810 IP
Yu Darvish: 812 IP
Blake Snell: 820 2/3 IP
Kerry Wood: 853 IP
Stephen Strasburg: 855 1/3 IP

Will it happen?

Burnes, who is 130 strikeouts away, has had at least 200 in each of the past three seasons, so it seems safe to figure this one will happen in 2024. As for the pacing, Burnes reached 130 strikeouts in 125 innings in '23. That would be 834 1/3 innings, putting him fourth on the above list.

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Pete Alonso: 200 home runs

Since he debuted in 2019, no player has more home runs than Alonso’s 192. He reached 100 homers in the second-fewest games in MLB history, so it’s worth wondering where he may rank for fewest games to 200 career home runs. He’s played 684 games so far.

The list:

Ryan Howard: 658 games
Aaron Judge: 671
Ralph Kiner: 706
Juan Gonzalez: 766
Albert Belle: 769
Harmon Killebrew: 769

Will it happen?

This figures to happen early in the season, with Alonso just eight homers away. If you were curious, his shortest span of games with eight home runs is 14, in three spans (two of which overlapped) last season. That would make him third on the above list.

Aaron Judge: 300 home runs

Judge enters the 2024 season with 257 career home runs, the most in MLB since his debut season of '16. He reached 200 homers in the second-fewest games in MLB history, as noted above, so it’s worth wondering where he may rank for fewest games to 300 career home runs. He’s played 835 games so far.

The list:

Ralph Kiner: 1,087 games
Ryan Howard: 1,093
Juan Gonzalez: 1,096
Alex Rodriguez: 1,117
Giancarlo Stanton: 1,119

Will it happen?

Judge needs 43 home runs, which certainly seems doable for a player who hit 62 in ‘22, 52 in ‘17 and 37 in just 106 games last season. And he’ll get there in the fewest games as long as he does it by early in the 2025 season.

Juan Soto: 200 home runs, most walks before turning 26

Soto enters the 2024 season with 160 career home runs and turned 25 this offseason. Just seven players have reached 200 homers before turning 26: Jimmie Foxx, Eddie Mathews, Alex Rodriguez, Mel Ott, Mickey Mantle, Albert Pujols and Frank Robinson. Soto’s 640 career walks are most in MLB history before turning 25 and second-most before turning 26, behind Mantle’s 668.

Will it happen?

Soto is 40 homers from 200. He hit a career-high 35 home runs in ‘23, and most projections have him in that range again for this season. Reaching 200 this year is certainly a possibility. As for the walks, he’s 29 away from setting that pre-26 record, and he hasn’t even played a regular-season game as a 25-year-old yet. He had 27 walks in 29 games in March and April last year.

Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander: 10th all-time in strikeouts and beyond

The two-time former teammates enter the year on the cusp of the top 10 in career strikeouts. Scherzer is 11th with 3,367 and Verlander is tied with Phil Niekro for 12th at 3,342, both within striking distance of 10th all-time. Here’s the relevant list, according to Elias:

1. Nolan Ryan: 5,714
2. Randy Johnson: 4,875
3. Roger Clemens: 4,672
4. Steve Carlton: 4,136
5. Bert Blyleven: 3,701
6. Tom Seaver: 3,640
7. Don Sutton: 3,574
8. Gaylord Perry: 3,534
9. Walter Johnson: 3,515
10. Greg Maddux: 3,371

Will it happen?

Once both are healthy, this will just be as it’s been for a while now: the two certain Hall of Famers trading spots on the list. Health is the question here for each, with both set to begin the season on the injured list. But that 10th spot is definitely reachable and ninth is in view as well. Scherzer is five strikeouts from passing Maddux and Verlander is 30 from passing the mark. Both of those are very doable, quickly after each makes his season debut.

For Walter Johnson in ninth place, Scherzer is 149 strikeouts from passing it and Verlander is 174 back. These could be within reach depending on health: Scherzer struck out 28% of the batters he faced last season, while Verlander struck out 21.5%, but had been at 27.5% in ‘22.

Clayton Kershaw: 3,000 strikeouts, 17 seasons with Dodgers

Kershaw will return midseason with 2,944 career strikeouts. That means that 3,000 is very much on the radar, even in a partial season. The last pitcher to join the 3,000-strikeout club was Max Scherzer, who became its 19th member. The 3,000 mark is certainly elite territory: of the 19 pitchers to reach it, the only ones not in the Hall of Fame are Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, plus CC Sabathia, Scherzer and Justin Verlander, who are not yet eligible. Kershaw has played 16 seasons so far, tied for third-most in Dodgers franchise history behind only Bill Russell and Zack Wheat, with 18 each.

Will it happen?

Kershaw is 56 strikeouts away from the mark. The biggest question mark is simply when he will return to the mound. If we estimate somewhere between 10-15 starts, 3,000 seems in reach. Kershaw made 24 starts last season, with 69 strikeouts in his first 10 and 39 in his final 10. And as soon as he appears in his first game, he’ll have sole possession of the third-most seasons played in Dodgers history, with 17.

A few more to keep an eye on …

Shohei Ohtani, most home runs by a Japanese-born player: Ohtani has 171 career homers in 718 games. The most by a Japanese-born player is 175, by Hideki Matsui in 1,236 games. The most by a Japanese-born player in Dodgers history is seven homers, by current manager Dave Roberts.

Ronald Acu?a Jr., 200 home runs & 200 SB: MLB’s only 40-70 club member has 161 career homers and 180 stolen bases in 673 games. He’s 26. No player has reached 200-200 before turning 27 and the fewest games to the combined mark is 929, by Alfonso Soriano.

Manny Machado, Padres’ all-time home run leader: Machado has 139 homers with San Diego in 659 games, fifth-most in franchise history. Nate Colbert leads, with 163 in 866 games. The only active players who lead a franchise all-time in homers are Mike Trout, Angels, and Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins (Evan Longoria leads the Rays, but is a free agent).