In the 1st game after playing in his 6th straight All-Star game, August 12th, 2020, Mikey Bryant did nothing new and had another 3-hit game, his 10th of the season. In his 2nd AB he grounded a ball between 3rd and SS that found a hole into the OF for his 2nd single of the game. What was special is that marked his 1500th career hit in just a shade over 7 total seasons in the big leagues.
He became the 29th BSA player to reach that level, but by far has the most the hits between 2013-2020 than any player in the league. There have only been 34 different times where a player has 208 or more hits in a season. Bryant accounts for 6 of those.....all 6 full seasons he has been in the league. That comes out to nearly 18%. The man is a hitting machine. He is on pace for 196 hits this season and I know everyone will be rooting him on to get that 7th straight season of 200 hits or more.
Bryant turned 32 years old this year and though is OPS is down a little bit from the former glory years, Bryant looks to continue hitting in a league where turning the age of 30 is like getting a death sentence. Though there have been a handful of players to succeed well into their 30's, the list of players to fall off is a lot longer than of players who have faltered. Hopefully we can see Bryant age like the great Sam Sagar has done, playing at a high level through age 35 and still putting up at least average numbers through age 37. Hopefully 2500 hits will be within reach for Bryant. He also sits at 279 HR. A great 2nd half could have him near that magical 300 mark which only 8 players have accomplished thus far in the history of the BSA. Are 400 HR out of reach? Only time will tell at this point.
On the opposite end of the age spectrum, kinda, is Dave Dodd who turned 26 this season. When Bryant was 26 he had ~1 year or so of BSA experience under his belt. Dodd has 4+ at the same point. Just this week Dodd passed former Jersey slugger Matt Doyle in hits and tied him in HR in a Jersey uniform. With 1 more HR and 39 more hits he will plant himself in 2nd in both categories only behind Bryant. Pretty crazy to think that he is already among one of the Jersey greats before his 27th birthday. If he can stay healthy, he might be able to put up some very big numbers statistically. Many people around the league believe he hasn't hit his peak yet, which could be scary for pitchers around the league. Regardless of meaningless personal accomplishments, if you ask each player what they hope to accomplish most you can bet both of them want a championship more than anything.
GO D-BAGS
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