Last Updated on October 16, 2026 by Matt Musico
The 400-homer club has 59 members. By the end of 2027, it could have five or more new ones.
Seven players will start next season fewer than 20 homers from the milestone, led by Manny Machado, who sits at 399. Even with an impending lockout hanging over the sport, it’s one of the storylines I’m most looking forward to following once the regular season returns.
Before we get to who’s next, here’s a quick look at the club itself.
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5 Fast Facts About the 400-Homer Club
As it currently stands, there are 59 MLB players in the 400-homer club. And as of this writing, the only two active sluggers in the club are Giancarlo Stanton (456) and Mike Trout (426).
Here are some other factoids about the 400-homer club that I found interesting (courtesy of Baseball-Reference):
- Alex Rodriguez is the youngest player to hit 400 career homers. He’s also the only dude who’s accomplished the feat before his 30th birthday (he did it at 29 years and 316 days old).
- The oldest player to reach the milestone was Darrell Evans. He clubbed his 400th tater at 41 years and 117 days old.
- Nobody has reached the 400-homer plateau in fewer at-bats than Mark McGwire. It took him 4,726 at-bats (1,412 games).
- Carl Yastrzemski needed the most games to join the club, doing it in his 2,804th game.
- However, it took Cal Ripken Jr. the most at-bats to make it happen, doing it in his 10,707th at-bat.
6 Players Who Just Missed Before Retiring
The following six players all finished their careers within 10 taters of reaching the 400-homer club:
- Andrés Galarraga: 399
- Al Kaline: 399
- Dale Murphy: 398
- Joe Carter: 396
- Jim Edmonds: 393
- Graig Nettles: 390
This is the kind of thing that makes me cringe every time I see it, especially for Galarraga and Kaline (and a little for Murphy too).
Kaline racked up nine seasons of 20-plus homers across his 22-year career, all of which came with the Detroit Tigers. Although he finished one tater short of the 400-homer club, he’s at least the Tigers’ all-time home run leader.
Galarraga falling just short is the one that I feel the worst about because of how it happened. He went on an incredible power binge during the late 1990s. He posted five straight years of 30-plus homers between 1994 and 1998. His efforts from 1996—98 each finished with at least 40 taters.
But then came 1999, when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and missed the entire regular season because he had to undergo chemo and radiation treatments. He slugged 67 homers upon his return and through the end of his career, but if Big Cat hadn’t been robbed of that ’99 campaign, he would’ve reached the milestone easily.
7 Sluggers on the Verge in 2027
Heading into the upcoming regular season, seven (!) players will be lining up on Opening Day needing fewer than 20 taters to join the 400-homer club. It’s an intriguing group of dudes:
- Manny Machado: 399
- Bryce Harper: 392
- Paul Goldschmidt: 390
- Aaron Judge: 386
- Kyle Schwarber: 385
- Nolan Arenado: 383
- Freddie Freeman: 383
Upon seeing this list, my mind immediately sorts it into a few subgroups. You’ve got a pair of grizzled veterans coming off surprisingly resurgent seasons (Goldschmidt and Arenado). Harper, Machado, and Freeman share the bond of each breaking into the big leagues before turning 21 years old.
And then, there are the two best power hitters of the bunch in Schwarber and Judge.
What I’m Most Interested in Watching
Unless something catastrophic happens, Machado will be the first one to break through and join the 400-homer club. And assuming everyone stays generally healthy, even a conservative estimate could have at least five (!) of these players punching their tickets into this fraternity.
The one thing I’m most intrigued by, though, is watching the unofficial race to this milestone between Judge and Schwarber.
Judge likely would’ve blown past this number in 2026 if he hadn’t been limited to 66 games for the New York Yankees. But then again, he and Schwarber have been two of the game’s most prolific power hitters this decade, so I want to see how fast they can get to the milestone…and if they can leapfrog Harper and Goldschmidt to make it happen.
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