5 things that will happen in the second half of the season:
*Clayton Kershaw will strike out his 3,000th hitter. He has 2,992 currently.
*Mike Trout will hit his 400th career home run. He has 390.
*Freddie Freeman will pass Hall of Famers Ryne Sandberg, Carlton Fisk and Alan Trammell on the all-time hits list. Freeman has 2,346 hits.
*Aaron Judge will become the youngest player to hit 350 career home runs. Judge, 33, has 342 homers.
*Shohei Ohtani will make 14 more starts and win 10 times (it says here in my crystal ball).
Top 5 prospects in the July amateur free agent draft:
*Ethan Holliday, 3B, Stillwater (Oklahoma) High School
*Liam Doyle, P, Tennessee. 164 strikeouts in 95 2/3 innings
*Kade Anderson, LHP, LSU
*Jamie Arnold, LHP, Florida State
*JoJoParker, SS, Purvis (Mississippi) High School
The Dodgers, picking later in the first round, are linked to 6-foot-6 shortstop Quentin Young of Oaks Christian High.
5 Current major league stars who have a chance to finish their careers with just one team:
*Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers, 18 years
*Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels, 15 years
*Jose Altuve, Houston Astros, 15 years
*Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Guardians, 23 years
*Aaron Nola, Philadelphia Phillies, 11 years
Note: When Kershaw goes into the Hall of Fame, he will be the first starting pitcher since Jim Palmer in 1990 to make Cooperstown pitching for just one team.
5 Best Leadoff hitters in history:
*Rickey Henderson
*Tim Raines
*Pete Rose
*Ichiro Suzuki
*Kenny Lofton
Runnerups: Derek Jeter, Earl Combs, Lou Brock, Shohei Ohtani
5 Remarkable stats about 5 remarkable players:
*Tony Gwynn faced Hall of Fame pitchers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz a total of 287 times. He struck out three times and hit .381 against the trio.
*Bob Gibson threw more career complete games (255) than he had wins (251)
*After Joe DiMaggio’s record 56-game hitting streak ended in 1941, he then hit in 15 more games in a row, meaning over 72 games, he was only held hitless once.
*Babe Ruth hit 54 home runs in 1920, a total greater than every other team in the American League.
*Nolan Ryan’s 5,714 career strikeouts are 850 more than any other pitcher (Randy Johnson)
Pete Donovan is a Palm Desert resident and former Los Angeles Times sports reporter. He can be reached atpwdonovan22@yahoo.com
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Expect Clayton Kershaw and Mike Trout to reach milestones in second half of MLB season
Reporting by Pete Donovan / Palm Springs Desert Sun
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