The Nick Markakis 2,000th hit countdown thread

[DrungoHazewood]

23 hours ago, Frobby said:

Nick is in a pretty hellacious slump, hitting .181/.257/.277 over his last 27 games.   With the emergence of Austin Riley and the other young OF talent Atlanta has, Nick’s days as a starter could be numbered if he doesn’t break out of it soon.   To date, however, he’s played in all 64 of Atlanta’s games, starting 60 of them.    

He’s 6 hits away from 2300, 158th all time.   In his next 10 hits he’ll pass Charlie Grimm, Kiki Cuyler, Aramis Ramirez and Dan Brouthers.

Nick's overall numbers aren't that different than last year, except that he's hitting a lot more ground balls.  He has Richie Martin's G/F ratio.

[Just Regular]

Hoping he'll revive a bit this week - at home and nothing but righties (not that he's been a platoon split guy).

Ender Inciarte seems to be struggling with an Alex Cobb-like lumbar strain, but I think he'll be back at some point.

Will be watching tonight's line up - yesterday wunderkind Austin Riley got Nick's regular #5 spot as he had a day off - every spot in the order is 18 PA/year.

[Moose Milligan]

https://www.mlb.com/news/10-best-mlb-right-fielders-of-decade

 

6) Nick Markakis (BAL 2010-14, ATL 2015-19): Markakis has been around longer than you realize: His rookie year was in 2006. His best seasons were those first years in Baltimore, but he has been remarkably consistent since entering the league. Did you realize Markakis has only missed more than seven games in a season once? Your team is always a little bit better if it has Markakis on it, and that’ll be as true in season 15 as it was in season one.

[Frobby]

31 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

https://www.mlb.com/news/10-best-mlb-right-fielders-of-decade

 

6) Nick Markakis (BAL 2010-14, ATL 2015-19): Markakis has been around longer than you realize: His rookie year was in 2006. His best seasons were those first years in Baltimore, but he has been remarkably consistent since entering the league. Did you realize Markakis has only missed more than seven games in a season once? Your team is always a little bit better if it has Markakis on it, and that’ll be as true in season 15 as it was in season one.

I love seeing Nick on this list.   Just proves that one of the best abilities is durability.

Meanwhile, Nick collected his 2,300th hit on Monday while going 4 for 5 with a homer, then hit another homer last night for no. 2301.    Hopefully that means his little slump is over.    

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, Frobby said:

I love seeing Nick on this list.   Just proves that one of the best abilities is durability.

Meanwhile, Nick collected his 2,300th hit on Monday while going 4 for 5 with a homer, then hit another homer last night for no. 2301.    Hopefully that means his little slump is over.    

I was fully prepared to click on it and go into a rage seeing him being left off.

I'm glad he's on the list, I don't necessarily disagree with his placement.  

700 hits is...man, I dunno.  I'd say 3,000 is in sight.  

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I was fully prepared to click on it and go into a rage seeing him being left off.

I'm glad he's on the list, I don't necessarily disagree with his placement.  

700 hits is...man, I dunno.  I'd say 3,000 is in sight.  

I’ve said this a few times over the years, probably in this thread:  I think it boils down to playing time. I really don’t have much doubt that if Nick keeps finding teams that will play him 155+ games a year, as he is accustomed to doing, then he will continue to crank out 160-180 hits a year.    He could be on the cusp of 3000 hits four years from today at that rate.    

The issue is, will teams continue to play him 155+ games a year?   Or will he slow down just enough where suddenly he’s suddenly playing 120?     In that case, he runs out of room.    And I think Nick is only willing to change teams so many times.    He’s not going to drag his family all over creation in a quest to reach 3000.    That’s not his style.   

[Moose Milligan]

21 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I’ve said this a few times over the years, probably in this thread:  I think it boils down to playing time. I really don’t have much doubt that if Nick keeps finding teams that will play him 155+ games a year, as he is accustomed to doing, then he will continue to crank out 160-180 hits a year.    He could be on the cusp of 3000 hits four years from today at that rate.    

The issue is, will teams continue to play him 155+ games a year?   Or will he slow down just enough where suddenly he’s suddenly playing 120?     In that case, he runs out of room.    And I think Nick is only willing to change teams so many times.    He’s not going to drag his family all over creation in a quest to reach 3000.    That’s not his style.   

I agree for the most part.  Although part of me thinks that if you've got a shot at doing something only a handful of players have ever done, you figure out a way to do it.  I know Nick probably doesn't operate that way and I respect him for that but...I kinda wish he did.  I'd like to see him get there.

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

I agree for the most part.  Although part of me thinks that if you've got a shot at doing something only a handful of players have ever done, you figure out a way to do it.  I know Nick probably doesn't operate that way and I respect him for that but...I kinda wish he did.  I'd like to see him get there.

It’s kind of a shame that Atlanta has a ton of young OF talent.   Sooner or later they’ll go with youth.    I’ve actually been surprised they haven’t cut Nick back significantly yet this year.   But, he’s producing at his usual clip.  

And of course, there’s a part of me that would love to see a Nick-O’s reunion, even though that makes no real sense for us.   

[Just Regular]

It just hit me he could be to the next good Orioles team what Brian McCann is to this year's Braves - a team HOF'er with a second act in a reserve role.

Diaz and Hays are the two clubhouse leaders for pre-FA regulars.  With Mullins fading fast, McKenna bats right also before Stowers is a LHH OF for a future team.  2022 Nick Markakis v. 2022 Ryan McKenna - would you bet on Nick to hold the strong side of a platoon there?  And if we just take Grenier's glove and bat him 9th, he'll need pinch hitters.  Even if McKenna is way better than Nick after two more years as I hope he will be, a guy like Markakis could make a nice 4th outfielder behind those 3 starters.

Agree playing time is all, and next year's 26th man helps a little with jobs.  NL DH and/or 32-team expansion before it is too late for Nick are the bigger possibilities for hitters like him if they want to go on as long as they can.

In the short term, Snitker gave a discouraging update on Inciarte's recovery the other day, so I think clear sailing to the All-Star break now.

[Frobby]

Over the weekend Nick collected his 2,305th hit, passing Kirby Puckett for 153rd on the all time list.   In his next 10 hits he’ll pass three more Hall of Famers (Bobby Wallace, Jim Bottomley and Jeff Bagwell) and tie another (Eddie Mathews).    

[Frobby]

Nick is up to 2321 hits now, alone in 149th place all time.    In his next ten hits he’ll pass Dave Concepcion, Jake Daubert, BJ Surhoff, Edgar Renteria and Jim Thome.     

Nick has played in every game for the Braves, but he’s come off the bench in 7 of them, which is the most since his rookie year.

[Moose Milligan]

If he hangs on 4 more years and keeps producing at this rate, he'll get there.

679 hits to go, divided by 180 hits he gets on yearly average, 3.77 years.  Round that up to 4 because of physical decline.  So in July/Aug of 2023 he could be getting his 3,000th hit.  

That's a long way away from now but...man, it'd be awesome.  

[Frobby]

Nick collected his 2,333rd hit this weekend, tying him with Andres Galarraga for 143rd all time.  In his next ten hits he’ll pass Bernie Williams, Barry Larkin, Paul Konerko and Joe Torre.

It’s really interesting to see the names as he’s passing people.    It’s a mix of Hall of Famers, near HOFers, and solid pros who you had no idea had that many hits.   By my count, Nick has passed about 70 HOFers already, including 13 this season so far, with another 9 or so in reach this year.

[Frobby]

Of the 142 ahead of Nick, I count 88 who are in the Hall of Fame, 40 who weren’t voted in for purely baseball-related reasons, and another 14 who either aren’t yet eligible or who appear to have been excluded for gambling or suspected PED use.    

[weams]

Quote

The news sounds far worse for Markakis, who took a 91 mph fastball off the left wrist from Phillies southpaw Cole Irvin on Friday. While he Braves wound up winning the game, they probably lost Markakis in the process. He’ll see a doctor Saturday, but Markakis said after the game that “it doesn’t look good,” and Burns writes that Snitker was “pessimistic” about his status.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/07/braves-could-place-dansby-swanson-nick-markakis-on-il.html