Steven Souza Jr becomes 8th Rays player to reach 30 HR in single season

Souza goes deep for the first time in the month of September

During the first inning of tonight’s contest with the Chicago Cubs, Steven Souza launched his 30th home run of the 2017 season, becoming the 8th player in Rays history to reach that mark.

Souza’s 30th home run was a long time coming as he had been sitting with 29 since the start of the month with his last home run coming on August 30th in Kansas City. Logan Morrison was the 7th player in franchise history to homer 30 times in a season, launching his 30th back on August 27th as part of a multi-homer day.

The six players to come before Souza and Morrison this year were Jose Canseco and Fred McGriff back during the 1999 season, Aubrey Huff in 2003, Carlos Pena in 2007, Evan Longoria in 2008, and Brad Miller in 2016.

A couple of the players above have had multiple years in which they’ve reach 30 HR once again with the Rays with Longoria reaching the mark four times and Pena going over 30 three times.

This is the 4th time in franchise history they’ve had two players with at least 30 HR in a single season.

The Rays could have more than two players with over 30 HR for the first time in franchise history as a couple of players could surge over that mark in the coming days. Lucas Duda is at 29 (counting his HR’s with the Mets), while Corey Dickerson is at 26.