Jose Altuve

One of the goals of MLB batters each season is to have a season where they reach 200 hits. Since 1901, there have been 484 times when a player collected 200+ hits in a season, a little over four players each year. Last year there were only two players who had 200 hits: Houston’s Jose Altuve led the majors with 225 hits, and Cleveland’s Michael Brantley made the list with exactly 200 hits last season.

Of the current 30 MLB franchises, all but one have had players reach the 200-hit mark in a season. The lone team without? The Tampa Bay Rays have not had a player with a 200-hit season in their franchise history.

Altuve’s 200-hit season was the first by an Astros player since 1998 when Craig Biggio had 210 hits. In fact, Biggio was the first Houston player to get 200 hits in a season. For the Indians, Brantley’s 200 hits was the first time an Indians player had 200 hits in a season since Kenny Lofton had 210 in 1996.

Here’s a look at the last time each of the 30 MLB franchises had a player with 200-plus hits in a season.

Last year with a 200-hit season, team (player)
Never, Tampa Bay
1977, Cincinnati (Pete Rose)
1996, Atlanta (Marquis Grissom)
1996, Minnesota (Paul Molitor)
1998, Chicago White Sox (Albert Belle)
1999, Arizona (Luis Gonzalez)
2001, San Francisco (Rich Aurilia)
2002, Oakland (Miguel Tejada)
2002, Washington (Vladimir Guerrero) with Montreal
2003, St. Louis (Albert Pujols)
2003, Toronto (Vernon Wells)
2004, L.A. Dodgers (Adrian Beltre)
2004, San Diego (Mark Loretta)
2006, Baltimore (Miguel Tejada)
2006, L.A. Angels (Vladimir Guerrero)
2006, Pittsburgh (Freddy Sanchez)
2007, Colorado (Matt Holliday)
2007, Miami (Hanley Ramirez)
2007, Philadelphia (Jimmy Rollins)
2008, N.Y. Mets (Jose Reyes)
2009, Milwaukee (Ryan Braun)
2010, Seattle (Ichiro Suzuki)
2011, Boston (Adrian Gonzalez & Jacoby Ellsbury)
2011, Chicago Cubs (Starlin Castro)
2011, Kansas City (Melky Cabrera)
2011, Texas (Michael Young)
2012, Detroit (Miguel Cabrera)
2012, N.Y. Yankees (Derek Jeter)
2014, Cleveland (Michael Brantley)
2014, Houston (Jose Altuve)

Note: Did you see where two players are the last player to get 200 hits in a season for two teams? Vladimir Guerrero (L.A. Angels and Washington/Montreal) and Miguel Tejada (Baltimore and Oakland).

Of the 484 players to get 200-plus hits in a season, the oldest was Sam Rice in 1930 (he was 40 years old). Paul Molitor is second on that list; he was 39 when he had 225 hits in 1996 with the Twins. The youngest? There were five players who had 200-plus hits in a season at age 20: Ty Cobb, Al Kaline,  Buddy Lewis, Vada Pinson and Alex Rodriguez.

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