Ohtani Triple Crown bid thwarted by ‘shift restriction beneficiary’? The .348 off-the-field batting champion

Shohei Ohtani (Angels) is in the hunt for the American League Triple Crown: home run leader, top three in batting average and RBI. However, there is a very strong contender for the batting title.

Japanese baseball publication Full Count reported on Monday that Ohtani will become the first player to win the Triple Crown in 11 years since Miguel Cabrera (Detroit). Ohtani hit his 42nd home run of the season on Aug. 18, moving him closer to becoming the American League’s home run leader.

Ohtani trails Lewis Roberts (White Sox) by 10 home runs. The American League home run leader is a lock. In the other two categories, he’s in the top three. His .306 batting average and 85 RBIs are both third in the league.

Yandy Dias (Tampa Bay) leads the way with a .322 batting average, followed by Bo Bichette (Toronto) at .321. In RBI, Kyle Tucker (Houston) leads with 92 and Adolis Garcia (Texas) is second with 91.

Ohtani’s triple crown bid is on the line

The hardest part of Ohtani’s Triple Crown quest may be batting average. While RBIs, a cumulative record, can be accumulated diligently to climb the ranks, batting average, a percentage record, has a candidate for the top spot outside of the rankings.

That would be Corey Seager (Texas), the top beneficiary of the “shift limit” rule. Through 17 days, Seager is batting a whopping .348. That’s two points higher than the current leader, Dias.

Before this season, Seager was a .287 career hitter, but last year he batted just .245 in 151 games, the lowest mark of his career. But in just one year, he’s on pace to outperform those numbers. As predicted before the season, he has emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the shift restrictions.

A left-handed hitter, Seager’s high percentage of pull groundballs led to expectations that he would see a significant batting average gain with the shift restriction. His performance this season has exceeded expectations. His batting average has increased by more than a percentage point.

However, Seager hasn’t gotten into a full plate appearance in 78 games. Seager injured his right thumb while making an out at first base against the Dodgers on May 22 and missed nine games. He previously missed 31 games in April with a hamstring injury, but since returning in August, he has maintained his high-sensitivity batting average of .340 in 12 games and 55 at-bats and is nearing the top of the order.

Through 17 games, Texas has played 117 games. With 502 regular-season plate appearances, they need 149 in the remaining 45 games to reach the limit. That’s about 3.3 at-bats per game, so barring an injury, he should be able to make it. Can Ohtani surpass Dias, Bichette, and Seager to win the Triple Crown?

Adding to his record year after year… Ohtani’s record for the year was

For the second year in a row, Ohtani is on pace to set the record for both regulation at-bats and regulation innings. With 533 at-bats, he’s already filled his plate appearances and has 31⅓ innings remaining.바카라사이트

In addition to the full count, “13 more stolen bases would give him the triple trifecta (hitting for a triple, 30 home runs and 30 doubles). Ultimately, there’s also a “quintuple 100. In 2021, he went over 100 in five categories: 138 hits, 100 RBI, 103 runs scored, 130⅓ innings, and 156 strikeouts. This season, he has 137 hits in 130⅔ innings with 165 strikeouts in three categories. His 85 RBI and 92 runs scored so far are on pace for a 112 RBI and 122 runs scored pace, setting the stage for a return to form after a two-year absence.”

“Last year, he became the first major leaguer to hit 30 homers and strike out 200 batters. This year, he has a shot at 50 homers and 200 strikeouts,” he wrote, praising Ohtani’s dominant two-hit performance.