With 18 games to play, Michael Brantley is sitting on 171 hits, 29 shy of becoming the first Indian to reach 200 since Kenny Lofton in 1996.
Can he get there?
Brantley is currently averaging just under four at-bats per game, which puts him on pace for about 72 more throughout the remainder of the season. If he continues hitting at his .319 clip, Brantley will finish six hits shy of 200.
But if Brantley gets hot, 200 is within reach. If Brantley can hit .400 through the Indians final 18 games, at his current rate of at-bats per game he’ll finish with exactly 200 hits on the season.
It’s obviously asking a lot to hope he can hit .400, but Brantley has proven to be capable of hot streaks this season.
In his last 13 games, Brantley is batting .377. And earlier this year he hit .423 over a 14 game stretch.
It’s a fairly insignificant milestone and won’t get the attention that a 50 home run season would, but in recent years the feat has been almost as rare and would certainly be a nice achievement to cap off Brantley’s 2014 campaign.
Here’s the list Brantley is looking to join:
Trivia Question: How many seasons did Ted Williams have 200 or more hits?
trick question, he never had one