Jay Bruce hits Milestone Home Run #100

We didn’t want to say anything because we weren’t too sure he was going to get it this year–but Jay Bruce hit home run #100 of his career just before the bar closed down for the year.

And we have a slight connection to this bomb. It came off Chris Capuano who went to Duke, and Capuano’s pitching coach at Duke was also the pitching coach of our college staff. We spent an entire 3 hour flight one time talking about Chris Capuano and picking the brain of our poor former coach.

100 home runs at age 24 is no small feat. He hit 72 off righties and 28 off lefties. 61 long balls were at Great American Ball Park. You know what’s funny? I remember the first one off Manny Acosta like it was yesterday. I remember all of them, in fact. I remember where I was for each one–whether I was listening on the radio or watching on television. It’s been an incredible run already and it’s been fun to watch.

It’s been a challenging season for young Bruce in some respects, but rewarding in others. This is one of those moments. He’s going to end on 100 home runs and near 100 RBI. Next year, we wait for him to put it all together and become the complete ballplayer we all have seen flashes of and know he’s capable of. For the most part, he’s came real close to delivering as the type of talent we thought he would. No Cincinnati Red aside from Frank Robinson or Adam Dunn ever hit more long ones at a younger age.

Here’s to the first 100, and here’s to 400 or 500 more in a Reds uniform. Salute!

Update: Reds won in 13 innings last night. Jay Bruce had 3 hits and needs about 2 hits today to finish at .260 for the year. Also don’t forget, Bruce hit the bomb at Citi Field which is the same place he broke his wrist back in 2009.