Sure, 2015 might have been a down year by the standards of Seattle Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano. Yet he still is managing to reach milestones.
On Wednesday night, Cano lined a single to left field in the top of the eighth inning against Kansas City Royals pitcher Kelvin Herrera for his 2,000th career hit.
MLB.com has the video of Cano's momentous single:
According to the Mariners, Cano is just the 14th player in MLB history to reach the 2,000-hit plateau in his first 11 seasons, but he is the first full-time second baseman to do so. They included the stat in their congratulatory tweet:
Even though Cano looks like he'll record a batting average under .300 for the first time since 2008, he is second on the Mariners in hits only behind Nelson Cruz, who is putting up numbers worthy of AL MVP consideration (.311/42 HR/88 RBI). He is the first Mariner to collect his 2,000th hit since Ichiro Suzuki did so in 2009.
Beginning his career with the New York Yankees in 2005, Cano has never recorded fewer than 150 hits in a single season, recording 1,649 of his hits in the Bronx. He's been ranked in the top 10 of the American League's hits leaders in seven of his first 10 years.
At 32 years old, Cano is the fifth active player to reach 2,000 hits before his 33rd birthday, joining Miguel Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez, Adrian Beltre and Albert Pujols.
This down year aside, Cano has proved over the years that he is one of the best pure hitters in the majors with one of the sweetest swings you'll see. It looks like he still has plenty more productive years ahead of him as the next milestone, 3,000 hits, could very well be attained in the next five or six years if he continues his current pace.
Stats courtesy of MLB.com.
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