The Hits just (Don't) Keep on Coming

[DOUGHBOYS]

Allow me a little time for a rant here...

Look, the fact that baseball is changing is ok. Offensive players know where the money is. They knew it in high school, College, and when signing to be a pro.
The money is in power. The home run is king. We have kids working out every day and hitting the weights so that they can hit the almighty home run.
When reaching the Professional level, they are taught by coaches to elevate the ball, adjust bat trajectory, and do all the things to make a player a better home run hitter.

The fact is that I'm beginning to miss the 'small guy'. Now, even guys like Jose Altuve go for the home run over the base hit.
I know I'm old school. But I miss the players that treated a bat like a baton and not a sledge hammer.
Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, and Rod Carew have left the building.
Enter Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, and Vladimir Guerrero. We have a generation of 'Clubber Lang's'.

The last 'place hitter' in baseball is retiring this year. Ichiro Suzuki will play two games in Japan and most likely, we will never see him play again.
He is the all time hit leader among current players.
And why shouldn't he be?
He is the last hitter that actually goes for hits, not fences.
To recognize the metamorphosis in baseball, we are near an all time low in players who even have 2,000 hits.
It is possible that after Ichiro leaves the games in Japan, that we will only have four active players with just 2,000 hits.
Albert Pujols
Miguel Cabrera
Robinson Cano
Nick Markakis

There are four others who also have 2,000 hits, but each will be lucky to see a Major League field again.

Jose Reyes
Matt Holliday
Adrian Gonzalez
Brandon Phillips

Of the eight, I guess Cano comes closest to being a 'base hitter' in its purest form.
Anyway, just four hitters with 2,000 hits is a new low in baseball.
And it's not looking better for the future.
Ian Kinsler
Yadier Molina
Hanley Ramirez
Dustin Pedroia
These are the only 'active' (can any of these players be called 'active' in the true sense of the word?), that have over 1,800 hits.

On the optimistic side, it may be a signal that PED's is meeting a demise.
Hitters are not putting up great numbers on the other side of 30 years as much.
Every player mentioned in this post could be out of baseball by 2022.
It wouldn't be a surprise.

One veteran not mentioned, who we imagine would have a lot of hits and be over the 2,000 hit plateau is not mentioned.
At least till now.
Joey Votto.
Did I forget him?
No.
Votto chose to reach base another way.
He never had a 200-hit season.
In fact, only reaching 180 hits twice.
At 35, he has 1,729 hits.
With health, he could reach 2,000 hits.
After retiring, there will be a five year battle between Sabrs and Old School about a placement in the Hall of Fame.
Sabrs will argue that 2,000 is the new 3,000
And sadly, they may be right.

(Sorry, guess that was a prolonged rant turned into a 'what will be' in baseball)