Robinson Cano entered Tuesday night’s contest against the San Diego Padres, having collected 2,499 hits in his career that has taken him from the Bronx to Seattle and back to New York with the Mets.
Cano, 36, hit a ground-rule double against Padres’ right-hander Cal Quantrill with Amed Rosario standing on first to record the 2,500th hit of his MLB career.
That now puts the left-handed slugger 101st all-time in MLB history hits-wise, with a double and two singles later in the game placing him only 10 hits behind Jimmy Ryan for the 100th spot on the list (2,513 hits).
Just for the purposes of discussing his Hall of Fame case, Cano now ranks ahead of both Fred McGriff and Frank Thomas on the list.
In his 15-year career, Cano has hit .304/.354/.492 with 314 home runs, 1,244 RBI, and 544 doubles in 2,111 games to give himself a 126 OPS+ and 69.5 WAR for his career.
The left-handed slugger has also appeared in seven All-Star Games, won two Gold Glove Awards, won five Silver Slugger Awards, and finished in the top-five in the MVP Award voting four times.
Cano will have a decent chance to reach 3,000 hits before the end of his career, being under control for four more seasons following this one as part of a 10-year, $240 million contract he signed with the Seattle Mariners in December of 2013 which was negotiated by former CAA agent and current Mets’ General Manager, Brodie Van Wagenen.
However, his mind isn’t on that and he is focused on a loftier goal as he told Tim Healey of Newsday.
“I don’t have my head on 3,000. Just my focus right now is to help this team win and make it to the playoffs.”
Van Wagenen acquired Cano and Edwin Diaz from the Seattle Mariners this past offseason in exchange for Jarred Kelenic, Justin Dunn, Anthony Swarzak, Jay Bruce, and Gerson Bautista.
