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Yashinsky: Cabrera Has Huge Lead, But Will He Qualify for Another Batting Title?

August 24, 2015, 12:00 PM by  Joey Yashinsky

The Tigers might have seen their overall team goals officially squashed this weekend in dropping three in a row to Texas, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still some meaningful individual accomplishments in play.

Miguel Cabrera has quietly built his batting average to a league-high .367.  Since returning from injury ten days ago, Cabrera has been just about the toughest out in baseball: 17 hits in 34 at bats for a clean .500 average.

With such astronomical batting figures, you’d think Miggy would most definitely be adding a fourth American League batting title to his collection this year.  The only issue is that with his month-long hiatus dealing with a calf injury, he does not currently qualify for the official batting average leaderboard.

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A player must make 3.1 plate appearances for each of his team’s games, the rules say.  Doing the math, that means 502 plate appearances are required for official qualification.

The Tigers have played 123 games and Cabrera has been up to the plate 375 times, so he is a tad behind schedule.  The official American League leaderboard lists Cleveland’s Jason Kipnis as top dog with a .321 average.  Prince Fielder surprisingly registers as the #2 guy with a .320 mark. 

But they could all be looking way, way, up the ladder at Miguel Cabrera very soon.

Things Could Work Out

Should Miggy play in, let’s say 35 of the Tigers’ final 39 games, and get up an average of four times per contest, that would put him at 515 plate appearances, plenty good enough to take home the batting crown. 

Also note that should the big man come up just short as to the required number of plate appearances, he could still be declared the winner.  Should a player be way out in front, like Cabrera is this year, and let’s say he winds up 10 PA’s shy of the needed 502, the league will simply add on ten “invisible” times at bat, each counting as an out. 

In essence, he’ll have an 0-for-10 added to his final batting numbers, and should that new average still outpace the rest of the field, the player would be deemed that year’s batting champion. 

So even if he misses a few games down the stretch, or if the team decides it wants to give Mud Hens legend Mike Hessman a few turns at first base in September, Cabrera will still be in terrific position to capture batting crown number four.  He’d be just the 12th player in baseball history to accomplish such a feat (since 1900). 

The Tigers have not quite reached the mountaintop in the Cabrera era, but the blame cannot fall on the franchise superstar.  Should he keep up his hot hitting and finish 40 or 50 points ahead of the next closest guy, it will be his fourth batting title in the last five years, a remarkable statistic for a player counted on to provide big home run power, and whom also gets the opposing pitcher’s top level of focus on a nightly basis. 

The wins and losses might not mean a whole lot as we look ahead to the final 39 games of 2015, but at the very least, we can relish the fact that one of the most polished hitters in the game’s long history plays in our city. 

And if he gets to the plate enough times, another career landmark could be just around the corner.


Read more:  Dealdine Detroit


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