5 More Statistical Milestones Brewers Players Can Reach In 2022

On Monday night, Brewers starter Freddy Peralta recorded the 500th strikeout of his young career. It’s a big milestone for the young starter, and it’s not the only one that’s been hit by a Brewers player this year.

Earlier this season, Brewers closer Josh Hader recorded his 500th strikeout, and did so in the fewest amount of game of any reliever in history. Andrew McCutchen recorded his 200th stolen base, another milestone. Now Peralta joins the club of players having reached a career milestone in 2022.

He’s not the first, and he won’t be the last.

Here are five more Milwaukee Brewers players who can reach statistical milestones in 2022.

Corbin Burnes – 500 career strikeouts (Current: 484)

In a testament to the strength of the Brewers pitching staff and how all these pitchers developed at the same time, the Brewers are poised to have three different pitchers reach 500 career strikeouts in the same season, all within a month of each other.

Josh Hader reached 500 Ks just over a week ago. Freddy Peralta just followed suit. Next, within his next two starts, Corbin Burnes is also slated to reach 500 strikeouts.

Burnes debuted just about six weeks after Peralta did back in 2018. Burnes spent his time in the bullpen in 2018 and struggled mightily in 2019, before bouncing back in 2020 and then winning the Cy Young in 2021.

Over half of his career strikeouts coming into this season came in 2021 when he struck out 234. He has 57 strikeouts in 2022 so far. He needs just 16 more to reach 500.

Is there a chance Burnes could reach 500 in his next start? Sure. It’s a small one, but if anyone can strike out 16 batters in one outing, it would be Burnes. More likely though, is that it’ll take him two more starts to complete this feat.

Burnes had a 13.3 K/9 in 2020 and a league leading 12.6 K/9 in his Cy Young year of 2021.

Josh Hader – 134 career saves (Current: 110)

In baseball, we like round numbers, so why is 134 saves a milestone? Because the Brewers all-time saves leader is Dan Plesac with 133. Getting to 134 saves would officially give Josh Hader the Brewers franchise record for saves.

The Brewers have had a number of closers over the years, and a lot of really good ones. But they haven’t had much staying power. Only three closers in franchise history even have more than 100 saves in a Milwaukee uniform: Plesac, Hader, and John Axford.

Hader needs 24 more saves over the final four and a half months of the 2022 regular season to reach this record. That’s certainly well within his reach and he’s on pace to reach that total.

You could already argue that Hader is the best reliever in Brewers history. If he had been used more in a closer’s capacity from 2017-2018, he probably already would have this record.

Ever since 2020, Hader has been used exclusively in a traditional, one inning closer’s capacity, maximizing his ability to close out games and make sure he’s available more often. In his previous multi-inning role, Hader would require more rest and miss save chances.

Hunter Renfroe, Willy Adames – 500 career hits (Current: 496, and 420)

Two Brewers players are on the cusp of 500 career hits as well. Hunter Renfroe is closing in quickly at 496 hits and should reach that milestone in the coming days. Willy Adames, meanwhile, is 80 hits shy of 500 for his career and he should reach that total later this season.

Adames is on the faster pace than Renfroe. Adames is going to reach 500 hits in his 5th season in the big leagues while Renfroe is going to reach it in his 7th season in MLB.

Still, these are big accomplishments for these players. It marks their halfway point to 1,000 hits, which is an even bigger milestone. There’s still a lot more to come in the careers for these two players.

For all these Brewers players, reaching these milestones should be celebrated and appreciated. Some may cut it close as to whether they will achieve these marks in 2022, and some are right on the cusp already.