Kyle Tucker Eclipses Major Offensive Milestone

Houston Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker eclipsed the 100-RBI mark on Thursday, becoming the 18th Astro to ever do so.

Author:
Ben Silver
Publish date:
Sep 22, 2022 3:00 PM EDT

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Runs batted in is a team stat disguised as a player stat. You won't find any executives or general managers using RBI to evaluate a hitter any more than you'll find them using stolen bases to evaluate a pitcher.

Nevertheless, players still care about RBI, as do managers. Just like pitcher wins we all know they're meaningless, but that doesn't make them any less fun.

So when Kyle Tucker became the 18th Houston Astro to ever eclipse the 100-RBI mark on Wednesday night, it was a big deal. Manager Dusty Baker exuded praise in Danielle Lerner's article for the Houston Chronicle, "Oh, I love it. This is something that a lot of people never get to, including me. I was pulling for him. I mean, boy, he knocked fire from that ball, too. So now, just go ahead and get some more."

Especially seeing as Tucker is a Tampa native, breaking the threshold in his home town must have been an even greater thrill. But characteristically, Tucker praised the guys in front of him in the lineup for making his achievement possible.

"The guys in front of me make it a little easier for me when I'm at the plate to get them in. So I mean, the RBIs are more on them than me."

The 18 members of the Houston Astros' 100-RBI club are as follows: Yordan Álvarez, Yuli Gurriel, Alex Bregman, Lance Berkman, Jeff Bagwell, Moises Alou, Richard Hidalgo, Derek Bell, Bob Watson, Carl Everett, Jeff Kent, Jim Wynn, Lee May, César Cedeño, Glenn Davis and Morgan Ensberg.

Berkman's 2006 season leads the pack. That year he drove in 136 runs. With only 12 games remaining, it will be nigh impossible for Tucker to drive in another 36 runs. Playing at his current pace, he's set to have 108 by season's end.

That total would have him place 18th all-time among Astros. Cracking the top-10 would be a nice goal, but also somewhat unreasonable, Tucker would need 20 RBI in eight games. Bagwell and Berkman occupy eight of those 10 highest spots, a monopoly on the Houston Astros RBI records.

Tucker won't get anywhere near those totals. But the Astros do have one player who one day could. Álvarez has never played more than 144 games a season — and he won't this year either — but extrapolating his current total of 94 RBI in 124 games comes out to 123 RBI across a 162 game sample size.

Perhaps Berkman's record is soon to be broken in 2023.