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Atlanta Braves’ Ozzie Albies Wins Southern League Hitting Title

By Alan Carpenter

Mar 12, 2016; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves shortstop Ozzie Albies (87) tries to bunt during the third inning of a spring training baseball game against the Washington Nationals at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 12, 2016; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves shortstop Ozzie Albies (87) tries to bunt during the third inning of a spring training baseball game against the Washington Nationals at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oops!  The Tennessee Smokies declared a member of their team the winner of the Southern League batting title.  However, a technicality gives that nod to Braves’ Ozzie Albies.

The drama was thick on Monday entering the final day of play for the AA Southern League. Chesny Young of the Tennessee Smokies (Cubs) was leading the league in hitting, but he could be caught with a big performance from Sebastian Elizalde of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Reds).

As it played out, the drama dried up early:  Young went 1-for-2 and finished with a .303 average; Elizalde went 1-for-5 and dipped to a .297 clip.  And thus the winner was declared:

Ummm…. Not So Fast

Turns out that they were all blissfully unaware of another contender.

At this point, I defer to Sam Dykstra of MiLB.com.  He quotes the Rule Book – specifically, Rule 9.22(a) on the topic of determining qualifications for league batting titles.  Normally, it’s required that a player have an average of 2.7 plate appearances per game over the club’s entire season (140 games, so 378 plate appearances) to qualify for a minor league batting title.  However… the rule…

"“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 her 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.”"

Because of his stint in AAA, the Atlanta Braves‘ Ozzie Albies only played 82 games in AA… quite a bit short of the 140 his team played.  However, as a leadoff hitter (most of the times), he received a lot of plate appearances:  371, to be precise.

Rule 9.22(a) means that Ozzie is permitted to add the missing 7 plate appearances as if he went 0-for-7, and then have his batting average re-computed on that basis.

Doing the Math

106 hits, 378 adjusted plate appearances, 337 officially adjusted AB’s.  Ozzie’s original batting average was .3212… but now…

Ozzie Albies hit .3145, besting Chesny by over 11 points.

In addition to that, his On-base percentage adjusted to .384, which also beat out Chesny for the Southern League title.

Smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em, Tennessee, but the numbers didn’t work out for you:

Dykstra also noted that this happened in two other leagues as well this season:

But in this case, Albies wins both – he’s the best Southern League hitter and the on-base champ.

Next: Labor Day Pains, Tebow Angles

Sorry, Tennessee and Cubs fans:  we got your AA winner right here… and he’s still just 19 years old.

Thanks to Sam Dykstra for pointing out the key rule at stake here.

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