Out of all the career milestones in baseball history, a hitter reaching 3,000 hits is one of the most impressive. In MLB history, 33 players have reached 3,000 hits, and each player is a baseball legend.
For the San Diego Padres, Manny Machado is two-thirds of the way there, as he hit his 2,000th hit in Monday night's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. After reaching that milestone, 3,000 hits becomes the next target for Machado to set his sights on.
In a piece from Ken Rosenthal and Levi Weaver of The Athletic, Padres correspondent Dennis Lin outlined the case for why Machado reaching such a benchmark is a possibility.
Monday's pair of initial hits at Petco Park made Machado one of five active players with at least 2,000 hits," Lin writes, "And perhaps the one with the best chance of reaching 3,000."
Lin outlined why his odds are better than the rest of the active 2,000-hit club members. "Machado is younger than the rest - Freddie Freeman, Jose Altuve, Andrew McCutchen, and Paul Goldschmidt - and his 11-year, $350 million contract runs through 2033."
McCutchen and Goldschmidt are both nearing the end of their careers, with both unlikely to reach 3,000 hits. Freeman has the most among active hitters, with 2,358, but at 35 years old, and dealing with injuries, it'd be a long shot to reach 3,000 hits.
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Altuve is also 35, but is signed on a longer-term deal. His odds are the next greatest compared to Machado, as he's not far off from Freeman, but dealing with significantly fewer injuries than the Dodgers' first baseman.
However, Machado has the best odds of these five active 2,000-hit club members. At just 32 years old, and signed for the next 8.5 years, Machado is in solid shape to hit the 3,000 hit benchmark.
Sitting at 101 hits through 90 games this season, Machado is on pace to hit 181 hits this season. If he maintains such a pace, heading into the 2026 season, Machado would need to average 115 hits over the next eight years of his MLB career.
In his MLB career, Machado averages 178 hits per 162 games, which would be more than enough to reach 3,000 career hits if he plays every game the rest of his career. While he's got a ways to go and can't afford to miss time, Machado's chances of reaching 3,000 hits are solid.
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