I just checked mlb.com, the website for the Major Baseball League (MBL). I clicked on regular season batting leaders and got a list sorted in descending order by ... BA ... and with players from both the American and National Conferences merged together.
Melky Cabrera, suspended through the rest of the regular season, continues to lead fellow National Conference batter Andrew McCutchen: .346 to .339. It looks more and more like Melky will lead his conference in BA. So what? Melky qualified for ALL the average categories, not just BA. If Melky had been leading in On Base Percentage (OBP) when he was suspended would anyone have even mentioned it, much less become apoplectic that a player not just suspended, but suspended for taking testosterone might lead in BA?
No.
The closest thing to BA is OBP. Melky is currently number 11 in OBP at .390 . Joe Mauer of the American Conference leads with .414. Andrew McCutchen is number two leads the National Conference at .405. Who even knows that much less cares?
BA continues to hold our attention long after is has been exposed as not nearly as important as OBP and even less important than OBP and slugging (SLG) considered together. This is the main reason Ichiro Suzuki is so over rated.
Just another reason I am rooting for Melky to lead in BA. Go Melky!
2 comments:
Melky will not qualify for the leadership at seasons end. He has 501 plate appearances, when the required number to qualify as a leader is 503.
They add At Bats to see if a player's Batting Average would still be the highest. I wrote about this previously. It happened with Tony Gwynn in 1996:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gwynnto01.shtml
498 Plate Appearances but he still led NL.
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