Alex Rodriguez reached another milestone on Friday night during the New York Yankees' win over the Los Angeles Angels. In Washington, the Nationals have promoted one of their top prospects.
A-Rod, who has already passed Willie Mays on the all-time home run list and Lou Gehrig on the all-time RBI list this season, continues to make his mark on baseball history the season after he was suspended for 162 games for PED use. Last night he passed Barry Bonds on the RBI list to move into sole possession of second place.
Some records have him in second place and some have him in fourth, all because of the discrepancy of when the RBI became an official stat. Baseball-Reference ranks Rodriguez fourth all-time behind Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Cap Anson, while MLB.com ranks him third all-time behind Aaron and Ruth. Elias Sports Bureau has him in second place only behind Aaron.
Whatever the case, A-Rod passed Bonds with his 1,997th RBI last night after going 4-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI in New York's 8-7 win over the Angels. The historic swing came in the fifth inning when Rodriguez drove in outfielder Brett Gardner with a single to right field off of Jered Weaver. Check it out below:
The 39-year-old is batting .284/.374/.530 with 31 runs scored, 11 home runs and 28 RBIs this season as the Yankees control first place in the AL East.
In the NL East, the Washington Nationals have promoted one of their top prospects, pitcher Joe Ross, to make his MLB debut on Saturday, according to Byron Kerr of MASNSports.com. The 22-year-old will skip Triple-A for the time being after going 2-2 with a 2.81 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 54 strikeouts in nine starts (51 1/3 innings).
Ross was acquired from the San Diego Padres this offseason in the three-team trade that sent outfielder Steve Souza Jr. to the Tampa Bay Rays and outfielder Wil Myers to San Diego. The Nats are still waiting to receive Trea Turner, the player to be named later in the deal, in just over a week.
The club opted to make the move because they want to avoid pitching Max Scherzer and Jordan Zimmermann on short rest since the two right-handers started Tuesday's double-header against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Nats optioned A.J. Cole to Triple-A Syracuse and moved Craig Stammen to the 60-day disabled list to make room for Ross.
He'll make his debut against the Chicago Cubs at 12:05 p.m. today.
