Blue Jays: Position players chasing down milestones in 2023

Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. couldn’t quite rise to the stratospheric level he played the 2021 season at but was still in the starting lineup for the American League in the All-Star game, won his first Gold Glove, and watched his 100th career home run sail out of the ballpark.

It’s just one of many milestones the young star is sure to hit in his career, but his teammates also have some eventful numbers to reach and surpass as early as this season.

Here’s a look at some notable milestones that are likely to be reached this year.

Catchers

Despite a huge, breakout season in 2022, the career of Alejandro Kirk is still in its infancy. He’s got less than 700 at-bats in the majors and with continued production, could reach heights some accomplish in a single, superlative season.

Kirk needs 17 hits to reach 200, 18 runs scored to hit 100, two home runs to get to 25, and 10 RBI for 100. Another to keep an eye on is Kirk’s 83 career walks and 84 strikeouts.

Danny Jansen also reached new heights last season even though he had some injury woes. He’ll do well to reach 200 runs (63 away) while being just 39 hits away from 250 and six doubles from 50. With two homers and seven runs driven in, He will reach 50 and 150, respectively.

Infield

Guerrero topping 100 big flies for his career is one of many checkpoints the phenom is sure to surge past soon. The next run he scores will be number 300, and 21 more home runs will put Vladdy at 125.  Finally, 298 more total bases will put him at 1,000.

Whit Merrifield has been in the league a lot longer than the previous names here and is closing in on 1000 games. He’ll need to get into 93 contests to reach that feat has a shot at 250 doubles (30 needed) and is 25 away from 200 stolen bases. If he reaches those numbers, He will likely top a tidy 20.0 WAR for his career too.

Santiago Espinal needs just seven runs to reach 100, eight two-baggers to get to 50, and 26 “ribbies” to get to the century mark. Cavan Biggio is close to 200 runs (23 required), 300 hits (54), 50 home runs (13), and 23 from 150 RBI.

After leading the AL in hits over the last two seasons, Bo Bichette will likely exceed 500 sometime in April, as he’s just 22 away. 38 runs scored, 61 RBI and four steals will put him at 300 for the first two categories and at 50 for the latter. He’s hit 29 and 24 dingers over the last two years. A new career high of 31 would put Bichette at 100 in the big leagues.

Matt Chapman needs just 12 homers to reach 150 and 79 runs scored to hit 500.

 Outfield

George Springer has hit 22 and 25 home runs as a Blue Jay. If he can increase that total to 29 he’ll reach 250, while 22 doubles would be 200 for his career. 

If Kevin Kiermaier can hit a pair of reachable, but unlikely milestones in 2023, it would mean his signing would have been of tremendous value. If he scores 90 runs, that will be 500 all-time. Kiermaier has never been a big power guy, his career-high was 15 in 2017, but if he can somehow manage to hit 18 jacks this season, KK will be at 100. 

Daulton Varsho is just getting going in his MLB career with last season being his first full workload. It seems reasonable that he’ll score at least 64 runs (which would bring his career number to 200), get over 86 hits (300), and hit at least nine homers (50) while needing 79 RBI to reach 200.