With a home run to deep left-center field off of Nationals’ starter Gio Gonzalez, Michael Young has joined one of the most prestigious clubs in the MLB today, the 1000 RBI club. Young joins Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, Jason Giambi, David Ortiz, Todd Helton, Paul Konerko, Miguel Tejada, Carlos Beltran, Derek Jeter, Adrian Beltre, Aramis Ramirez, Lance Berkman, Miguel Cabrera, Torii Hunter, Raul Ibanez, Mark Teixeira, Alfonso Soriano, and Adam Dunn as the only active players to have accomplished the feat.

Young, a career .301 hitter, had a disastrous 2012, where he hit just .277/.312/.370 with 8 home runs and a -2.4 Wins Above Replacement, marks which are far lower than his career averages. After being traded to the Phillies over the offseason for Josh Lindblom and Lisalverto Bonilla, the 7 time All Star has turned things around a bit in 2013. He’s hit .288/.356/.390 with 2 home runs. While these numbers still don’t touch his career averages, they are significantly better than his 2012 marks.

2013 is the first season that Young will play for a team other than the Texas Rangers, has been an important piece in the Phillies’ lineup. Tonight, he put the Phillies up early against 2012 NL Cy Young candidate Gio Gonzalez. Here is the video of the historic hit:

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