DETROIT -- Reaching the 1,000-hit milestone at such a young age seems significant to Starlin Castro, but not as much as the possibility of enjoying a winning season in a Yankees uniform.
Castro's odometer rolled over with a pair of hits in the Yankees' 8-4 victory over the Tigers on Saturday at Comerica Park, with No. 1,000 coming on a seventh-inning single facing Logan Kensing.
"One-thousand hits feels good, I feel excited, but I came to New York to win a championship," Castro said. "I think that's a more important thing for me."
At 26 years and 16 days, Castro is the fifth-youngest player to reach 1,000 hits in the past three decades.
He follows Miguel Cabrera (25 years, 142 days), Roberto Alomar (25 years, 189 days), Ken Griffey Jr. (25 years, 268 days) and Alex Rodriguez (25 years, 282 days).
"It's so impressive, but what I'm most excited about Starlin is he's come in and been very open-minded about what we want him to do in the weight room, with nutrition, with kind of buying into the Yankee way," Rodriguez said. "And I know he's very excited about the 1,000 hits, but he's also most excited about trying to win a championship."
The first 991 hits of Castro's career came with the Cubs. He is batting .450 (9-for-20) with two homers and eight RBIs through five games after being acquired by the Yankees for right-hander Adam Warren and infielder Brendan Ryan.
"It's an awful lot of hits for a person that age, and he's been really impressive so far for us," manager Joe Girardi said. "I thought he was impressive in Spring Training and it's just carried over."
Castro acknowledged that he sometimes thinks about other milestones he could reach.
"Just keep healthy, play hard every day and a lot of things can happen," Castro said.