On July 2, Clayton Kershaw became the 20th pitcher in AL/NL history to reach the 3,000 strikeout plateau. An incredible achievement, it goes without saying, but it was a little bittersweet — it’s going to be a long time before we see another pitcher join the 3,000-K club, and there’s a chance Kershaw could be the last to get there.
The good news is that while no one else is approaching anything quite so momentous in 2025, there are several more players chasing career milestones and statistical feats for us to follow in the second half. Here’s a look at 13 of them.
Stats through Tuesday unless otherwise specified.
Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer: 3,500 strikeouts
Career: 3,483 K’s (Verlander) / 3,435 K’s (Scherzer)
It doesn’t really hold the same weight of that round 3,000, but coming into the 2025 season, just nine pitchers had at least 3,500 strikeouts. Nothing’s guaranteed, but Verlander, 17 short of the mark, has all but sewn this one up. It’ll be a bit more of a stretch for Scherzer, who’s maintained a roughly one strikeout per inning pace but needs 65 more to reach 3,500.
Mike Trout: 400 home runs / 1,000 RBIs
Career: 395 HR / 998 RBIs
We’re in “any day now” territory. Trout is already the Angels’ all-time leader in home runs, so he’d be the first player in franchise history with 400 of them (he’d be the third to hit his 400th in an Angels uniform, after Dave Winfield in 1991 and Vladimir Guerrero Sr. in 2009.) Meanwhile, he’d be the third Angel to reach the 1,000 RBI mark, after Garret Anderson (1,292) and Tim Salmon (1,016).
Salvador Perez: 1,000 RBIs
Career: 976 RBIs
He’s 24 short, but Perez has 60 RBIs on the year for one of the worst offenses in the Majors, so closing that gap shouldn’t be too difficult. He’d be the 16th primary catcher with 1,000 career RBIs and the third player to have as many in a Royals uniform, joining George Brett (1,596) and Hal McRae (1,012).
Pete Alonso: 253 home runs
Career: 247 HR
Even bigger than his 250th career home run is the club record he’s coming up on — Darryl Strawberry’s 252 home runs in a Mets uniform are the most in franchise history, but his days at the top of the list are numbered. Considering who we’re talking about, this could happen sooner than later — Alonso’s mired in a pretty bad slump, but the shortest span over which he’s hit six homers was eight games, from June 1-8 of this year.
Kenley Jansen: 479 saves
Career: 464 saves
Since the save became an official stat in 1969, only three pitchers have had more of them than Jansen does — Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman and Lee Smith. Rivera and Hoffman are still a ways off, but Jansen is coming up on Smith’s 478. Although he could be on a better team for these purposes, at least 15 saves over about 60 remaining regular-season games is relatively reasonable.
Cal Raleigh: various HR records
2025 season: 39 HR
Setting aside the discussion of whether it’s physically possible for a catcher to do this, Raleigh is on pace to hit 63 home runs in 2025, which would put him within range of three different single-season home run records. First in line would be for a primary catcher, currently held by Salvador Perez, who hit 48 in 2021. Next would be the Mariners’ record of 56, set twice over by Ken Griffey Jr. in 1997-98, and finally, there’s Aaron Judge’s American League record of 62, set three years ago.
Pete Crow-Armstrong: 40-40 season
2025 season: 26 HR, 28 SB
Ronald Acuña Jr. had a 40-70 season in 2023; Shohei Ohtani had a 50-50 season a year ago. We’re all prone to recency bias, so 40-40 seasons might feel a little more routine now than they did three years ago. But the 40-40 club still only has six members — Ohtani, Acuña, Alfonso Soriano (2006), Alex Rodriguez (1998), Barry Bonds (1996) and Jose Canseco (1988) — and Crow-Armstrong is on pace for 42 home runs and 45 stolen bases in 2025.
Byron Buxton and Fernando Tatis Jr.: 30-30 seasons
2025 season: 23 HR, 17 SB (Buxton) / 16 HR, 22 SB (Tatis)
Less elusive, but still historically unattainable for both the Padres and the Twins, both among the seven teams without a 30-30 season. Being that both guys have spent their entire MLB careers with their current clubs, either would also be a personal first. They’re not quite on track at the moment, but it’s a very close thing — Buxton’s on pace for a 40-29 season, Tatis for 25 HR and 35 SB.
Aaron Judge: 11 bWAR
2025 season: 6.9 bWAR (through Monday)
There have been 20 11-bWAR seasons authored by 13 individual players, the most recent being Barry Bonds in 2002 (11.7 bWAR). Pace doesn’t help much when predicting WAR, but here’s what we can say: Judge had an bWAR of 10.8 in both of his MVP seasons. He’s currently working on a career-high batting average, slugging percentage and OPS, and there’s a real possibility that 2025 could be his best statistical season.
Shohei Ohtani: 4th MVP Award
2025 season: 36 HR, .274/.377/.616 (.993 OPS)
He definitely has competition here, but Ohtani is having another typically excellent season, and we’re writing before he’s fully settled back into the rotation, which would probably put him over the top. Through 2024, Barry Bonds is the only guy to win a fourth MVP Award — he ended up winning seven.
Tarik Skubal: Consecutive AL Cy Young Awards
2025 season: 127 2/3 IP, 2.19 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 10.25 K/BB
The last player to take home two straight AL Cy Young Awards was Pedro Martinez in 1999-2000, which feels quite recent, but then again, Skubal, the guy going for his second in a row in 2025, was born in 1996. He also has several legitimate challengers, but he leads the American League in fWAR, ERA (tied), K/9, BB/9 and WHIP, and he’s threatening to become the fourth pitcher in the Modern Era (since 1900) to post a 10+ strikeout-to-walk ratio, after Phil Hughes (11.63 in 2014), Bret Saberhagen (11.0 in 1994) and Cliff Lee (10.28 in 2010).
