Manny Machado Reaches 1,000 RBIs Milestone with Three-Run Homer

Manny Machado is celebrating a major milestone…

The 32-year-old Dominican American professional baseball third baseman and shortstop for the San Diego Padres hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning on Saturday to reach 1,000 RBIs.

Manny Machado,Machado had three hits in San Diego’s 9-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles, the seventh straight victory for the Padres.

Fittingly, he reached a hitting milestoneat Camden Yards, back where his Major League Baseball (MLB) career began.

“Doing it where it all started,” Machado said. “I got my first one here and I got my thousandth here.”

Machado began his major league career in Baltimore in 2012 and played there until he was traded in 2018. He has been in the National League since, so he hasn’t been back often.

“The ballpark’s changed since Manny’s been here,” manager Mike Shildt said.

That’s true — the wall in left field as a lot taller and a lot farther back than it used to be. But Machado’s drive went 413 feet to right-center field. According to Statcast, it would have been gone from 24 of the 30 parks in the majors.

“For me, it’s always been gap to gap, so try to keep it that way,” Machado said. “There are some guys that are pull-happy and come here and that wall, you see the depth, it’s pretty far back there. You just try to stick to your approach, what your strength is.”

San Diego is 31-22 on the road and 26-28 at home. On this trip, the Padres took two of three at AL Central-leading Cleveland, then swept Washington, with Dylan Cease throwing a no-hitter during that series.

Now they’re one win from sweeping AL East-leading Baltimore.

“We’ve been playing really good baseball,” Machado said. “It has nothing to do with being on the road, being at home. That’s just the narrative that people want to go by, but we try to just play really good baseball.”

José Abreu Agrees to Three-Year Contract with Houston Astros

José Abreu is celebrating an Astros-nominical deal…

The 35-year-old Cuban professional baseball player, who plays first base, and the Houston Astros have agreed to a three-year contract, according to ESPN.

José AbreuAbreu will add another run-producing bat to the World Series champions’ lineup that’s already filled with them.

Abreu, who turns 36 in January, won the American League MVP award in 2020 and is second in baseball with 863 RBIs since his first season in the major leagues, 2014. He hit .304/.378/.446 this year with the Chicago White Sox, for whom he had played all nine of his big league seasons after defecting from Cuba.

Following a dreadful first five weeks, Abreu was one of the best hitters in baseball over the final three-quarters of the season, batting .335/.405/.479, though his 15 home runs over the entire year were a career low.

He joins an Astros lineup with fellow Cuban Yordan ÁlvarezJose AltuveKyle TuckerAlex Bregman and World Series MVP Jeremy Peña.

Abreu will replace Yuli Gurriel, a longtime rival in the Cuban National Series.

Abreu and Gurriel, along with Yoenis Cespedes, were widely regarded as the best players of their generation from Cuba, both high-contact hitters — though Abreu’s power was the separator.

The White Sox extended him for three years and $50 million after 2019, when he led the AL with 123 RBIs. Over his nine seasons, Abreu hit .292/.354/.506 with 243 home runs and an adjusted OPS 34% better than league average.

He’s the second signing for this winter for the Astros, who reupped reliever Rafael Montero on a three-year, $34.5 million contract. The Astros’ projected payroll is currently in the $175 million range — they’ve exceeded $187 million each of the previous five seasons — and they still hope to sign ace Justin Verlander, who could command upward of $40 million a year.