Qualifying for the NL Batting Title

[BuckyTuba]

I've read that you need 3.1 plate appearances per team game to qualify for the batting title... could Braun achieve this number of appearances in the last 2+ months to contend for it?

 

currently he has 224 (coming into tuesday night) with 63 games remaining, and the magic number would approximately 502.

 

206 AB, 16 BB, 2 HBP

[trwi7]

Probably won't get 500+ but if he gets say 480 and he's so far ahead of everyone else that if he went 0-22 and he would still have a higher BA than everyone else then he would win it.

 

I hope that made sense.http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[MoneyballMan]

Last I saw, ESPN was projecting something like 497 for Braun, so it may actually be close.

[BillScottCanRake]

If he's close, it is possible that Yost might move him up to second to get him a few extra plate appearances. It probably depends upon the teams position in the playoff race and just how close Braun would be to winning a batting title.

[MoneyballMan]

Agree. I think Yost would do whatever possible (without sacrificing their playoff chances) to get him the at bats he needs to make it. But we have a lot of season left. Hard to really tell how close he'll be and if he'll keep his average this high. It would be great, though!

[adambr2]

I think it's 502 plate appearances to qualify. That's key, it's plate appearances, not AB's. That way, you don't get penalized for walking.

 

Into tonight, Braun had 227 PA's in 51 starts. At that pace, if he started all remaining 63 games, he'd have 507 plate appearances by the end of the season. So, he could afford to have 1 day off between now and the end of the season and still be on pace to qualify.

 

So as you can, it's very plausible that he'll qualify. Assuming he stays healthy, it'll be very close.

 

Now, what Trwi was saying, and he was exactly right:

 

Let's say he doesn't make it, and only gets 495 PA's. We'll say hypothetically, he goes something like 155 for 450, for a .344 batting average. Since he fell 7 PA's short, add 7 AB's to his 450, giving credit for no hits in those 7 AB's.

 

That would make him 155 for 457, for a .339 batting average. Let's say Pence or Lee is in 2nd with a .337 batting average. Braun is declared the batting champion even though he only had 495 PA's, because even if he had futile AB's up to PA #502, he would still have the league's highest BA.

 

Hope I didn't make that any more confusing than it had to be!

[BrewCrewForever]

That would sure be something if Braun got the plate appearances needed and did win the batting title.

[1992casey]

Here's the rule:

10.22 Minimum Standards For Individual Championships

 

To assure uniformity in establishing the batting, pitching and fielding championships of professional leagues, such champions shall meet the following minimum performance standards:

 

(a) The individual batting, slugging or on-base percentage champion shall be the player with the highest batting average, slugging percentage or on-base percentage, as the case may be, provided the player is credited with as many or more total appearances at the plate in league championship games as the number of games scheduled for each club in his club?s league that season, multiplied by 3.1 in the case of a Major League player and by 2.7 in the case of a National Association player. Total appearances at the plate shall include official times at bat, plus bases on balls, times hit by pitcher, sacrifice hits, sacrifice flies and times awarded first base because of interference or obstruction. Notwithstanding the foregoing requirement of minimum appearances at the plate, any player with fewer than the required number of plate appearances whose average would be the highest, if he were charged with the required number of plate appearances shall be awarded the batting, slugging or on-base percentage championship, as the case may be.

 

Rule 10.22(a) Comment: For example, if a Major League schedules 162 games for each club, 502 plate appearances qualify (162 times 3.1 equals 502) a player for a batting, slugging or on-base percentage championship. If a National Association league schedules 140 games for each club, 378 plate appearances qualify (140 times 2.7 equals 378) a player for a batting, slugging or on-base percentage championship. Fractions of a plate appearance are to be rounded up or down to the closest whole number. For example, 162 times 3.1 equals 502.2, which is rounded down to a requirement of 502.

 

If, for example, Abel has the highest batting average among those with 502 plate appearance in a Major League with a .362 batting average (181 hits in 500 at-bats), and Baker has 490 plate appearances, 440 at-bats and 165 hits for a .375 batting average, Baker shall be the batting champion, because adding 12 more at-bats to Baker's record would still give Baker a higher batting average than Abel: .365 (165 hits in 452 at-bats) to Abel's .362.

Sorry about the lack of paragraphing. MLB writes that way. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

 

The explanations from trwi7 and adambr2 are definitely easier to read.

[jlau20]

Thanks for posting this thread, I was thinking about this last night and was actually going to post a similar question if anyone had the rulebook on it.

 

Thanks guys.

[Tailgat0r76]

I guess our offense will just have to get going so Braun can get 6 PA's every night.

[pitchleague]

a couple more extra inning games will also help the effort (not that I want extra inning games, of course)

[chuckywang]

Keep in mind that even if Braun doesn't get the required number of PA's, he could still win the batting title if his average assuming an 0 for "however many more PA's he would need in order to qualify" is still the highest average in the league.

 

That said, he'll still need to contend with Derrek Lee and Chipper Jones.

[JohnBriggs12]

He now has 232: 210 AB's, 17 BB, 3 SF, 2 HBP.

 

If he plays everyday, he should average about 4.5 per game giving him 511.

 

He's now 21st in HR, and 55th in RBI also.