Ohtani Triple Crown Emergency! The batting average category has emerged, with 2018 MVP Chae-eun leading by 16 or more
Jul 10, 2024
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Ohtani played as the No. 1 designated hitter in an away game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on the 10th (Korea time) and recorded 1 hit, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout in 2 at-bats.
As the Dodgers became losing due to starter Bobby Miller's extreme difficulties, manager Dave Roberts used Austin Barnes as a pinch hitter without Ohtani in the seventh inning. Even though it was an away game, fans booed when Ohtani's replacement was announced.
Ohtani struck out swinging on Philadelphia starter Jack Wheeler's 97.6-mile high fastball in the top of the first inning.
After losing 0-3 in the third inning, he hit a left-handed hit in his second at-bat. On one strike, Wheeler pushed a high cutter in the middle of his second pitch of 91.5 miles and made a missed hit that fell in front of left field. Ohtani, who succeeded in stealing second base at Freeman's at-bat after Will Smith's rookie strikeout, could not advance further because Freeman struck out swinging.
Ohtani walked straight from Jack Wheeler after two outs in the fifth inning, trailing 1-9. Smith then walked, but Freeman only grounded out to second base and failed to score again this time.
The Dodgers lost 1-10 and lost 2 consecutive games, breaking the 60% winning rate with 55 wins and 37 losses (0.598). The gap between the NL No. 1 Philadelphia (59 wins, 32 losses, 0.648) widened to 4.5 games.
With this, Ohtani had a batting average of 0.315 (110 hits in 349 at-bats), 28 homers, 65 RBIs, 72 runs, 21 walks, an on-base percentage of 0.401, a slugging percentage of 0.636, OPS 1.037, 53 long hits, and 222 doubles.
The most notable category is batting average. Ohtani was second in the NL batting average after San Diego Padres Jurickson Profar until the previous day. On this day, Profar was silent with no hits in four at-bats against the Seattle Mariners, and his batting average fell from 0.315 to 0.312 and Ohtani was a chance to rise to first place.
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Yelich was placed on the injured list on April 14 due to back pain and took a 25-day break, which resulted in a significant shortage of at-bats. However, after returning on May 9, he steadily filled the at-bat and finally entered the rankings. Since the batting average was 0.333 before the injury, it can be said that he has maintained a steady sense of hitting even after returning. In July, he has hit .400 with three home runs, five RBIs and an OPS of 1.367 in eight games, displaying his peak batting performance.
The difference in batting average from Ohtani is 166. In the fight for the batting champion, if it is in a similar condition, the one with fewer strokes is advantageous. This is because the increase is greater when one hit is hit. Of course, the number of hits that fall if you can't hit is bigger, but assuming that you hit the same number of hits, the batting average of batters with fewer hits is inevitably higher.
Yelich has been the NL batting champion in 2018 and 2019. He was named MVP in 2018 and was second to Dodgers Cody Bellinger in 2019. However, he has never hit a .300 batting average since then. He is aiming for the No. 1 hit in five years this season.
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Aaron Judge (0.308) of the New York Yankees, who is aiming for the AL triple crown, is also put on hold as Cleveland Guardians Stephen Kwan (0.363) recently filled the regular at-bats and lost the top spot in the batting average category. It is expected that it will be difficult to see the birth of Triple Crown again this season.
jhno@sportschosun.com
