Chicago Cubs: Five unique records and milestones set by Cubs

Chicago Cubs: There were a lot of ups and downs for Starlin Castro in his Cubs tenure, but he was doing big things early on.

The 2011 Cubs season was as forgettable as it gets. A dismal 71 wins in the final days of the Jim Hendry era with little to no hope for the future outside 21-year old Starlin Castro. Castro was the one twinkle of hope going forward as he was beginning to make a name for himself in his first full season as an MLB player.

Castro batted a career-high .307 in 2011 with a league-leading 207 hits. At the age of 21, he became the youngest player in National League history to lead the league in hits. He recorded his 207th hit in the season finale in San Diego with his 36th double on the year.

There have been some great hitters in the 143 years of history of the NL, so it was a pretty big accomplishment for Castro to be the youngest player ever to lead the league in hits. This record still holds today.

It is worth noting that Castro is also the youngest Cub to reach 200+ hits in franchise history. He was on pace to reach 1,000 in a timely manner, which eventually he did as a New York Yankee in 2016, but many at the time thought it would be in a Cubs uniform. Castro’s hit total was just short of 1,000 at 991 in Chicago. Still, it is a cool record for a former Cub to hold.