Corey Seager

[stringer bell]

I know Ohtani will be MVP, probably in a unanimous vote, but Corey Seager is having a monster year and would be an MVP candidate in another year. He's not on the batting average leaders because of injuries, but he's hitting .350 with a 1.076 OPS while playing a key defensive position. 

In fact, due to obscure rules about qualifying for batting titles, Seager would be the AL batting champion, if the season ended today. With a more than 20 point lead, he is a pretty sure bet unless he suffers another injury.

Seager struggled early last year and has suffered injuries, but he's really at the top of his game. Maybe Correa will get it going in his second year of his contract. 

[Mike Sixel]

The qualified "rule" really needs to die or be changed in the current environment.....

[chpettit19]

6 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

The qualified "rule" really needs to die or be changed in the current environment.....

I don't think it can die, but maybe it can be changed. There needs to be some floor for PAs to qualify or it kind of ruins it, I think.

As for Seager, he's on fire. Many of these big contract SS the last couple years had, or are having, brutal first years. The ones who aren't currently in their first year are mostly having really nice years. So I hope that's a good sign for Correa.

[Mike Sixel]

18 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I don't think it can die, but maybe it can be changed. There needs to be some floor for PAs to qualify or it kind of ruins it, I think.

As for Seager, he's on fire. Many of these big contract SS the last couple years had, or are having, brutal first years. The ones who aren't currently in their first year are mostly having really nice years. So I hope that's a good sign for Correa.

That's all I meant....especially for pitchers. It really has to drop.

[tony&rodney]

There are a host of folks who don't think batting average is very important in today's baseball, preferring any number of alternate set of data. That's fine if that is what one sees as a more useful or representative hitting statistic.

However, baseball does have a long history which includes noting a batting average champion in each of the NL and AL. In order to have a winner be "worthy", MLB determined that an everyday player should average 3.1 plate appearances for the 162 game schedule (502 PA). This ensures that a player who has a hot half season does not get rewarded over the guy who plays all season. This is fair. If a player does not have enough at bats, they can still win the batting crown if the number of at bats are added to the total needed to reach 502 PA and the hitter still has a higher average. Seager has 349 PA and should still get another 150+ PA through the remainder of the season. He will almost certainly qualify, but adding 10+ PA as outs may still find him winning the batting title. There is no reason to water down a batting title. Those who do not see much worth in a batting crown can easily ignore the whole thing.

[Mike Sixel]

39 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

There are a host of folks who don't think batting average is very important in today's baseball, preferring any number of alternate set of data. That's fine if that is what one sees as a more useful or representative hitting statistic.

However, baseball does have a long history which includes noting a batting average champion in each of the NL and AL. In order to have a winner be "worthy", MLB determined that an everyday player should average 3.1 plate appearances for the 162 game schedule (502 PA). This ensures that a player who has a hot half season does not get rewarded over the guy who plays all season. This is fair. If a player does not have enough at bats, they can still win the batting crown if the number of at bats are added to the total needed to reach 502 PA and the hitter still has a higher average. Seager has 349 PA and should still get another 150+ PA through the remainder of the season. He will almost certainly qualify, but adding 10+ PA as outs may still find him winning the batting title. There is no reason to water down a batting title. Those who do not see much worth in a batting crown can easily ignore the whole thing.

except it isn't used for just batting crowns......

[SwainZag]

On 8/16/2023 at 2:49 PM, Mike Sixel said:

except it isn't used for just batting crowns......

What else is a minimum 502 PA used to determine besides the batting crown?

[annismark]

Right now the Twins have one (1) qualified batter.  He's not a leading candidate to win the batting crown, but he is a league leader in one category.

[gunnarthor]

Yeah, those Rangers' MIers are having a great sesason, both are top 4 in WAR.

Also a bit bittersweet to see Luis Robert have the season we all wanted Buxton to have.

But, my God, Ohanti. Has anyone ever doubled the runner up in WAR? He's close.

[mnfireman]

20 hours ago, SwainZag said:

What else is a minimum 502 PA used to determine besides the batting crown?

OBP & SLG to name a couple. All rate stats are based on minimum number of PA or IP. Very soon there will be very, very few qualifiers for ERA (which modern stat heads don't care about anyway) as most MLB starters are 5 and done, and with the 5 man (and maybe soon 6 man) rotations most don't get 30 starts a season. Last season for example, there were 45 MLB pitchers who qualified for the ERA title, 1.5 per team.

[stringer bell]

I believe there are currently 59 pitchers in MLB that qualify (one IP per game) and the number of qualifiers will probably end up lower than that. I thought for awhile that the Twins might actually sneak four qualifiers in this year, but recent short starts by Ober and Ryan's injury and ineffectiveness might make it only two. 

I wouldn't be surprised to see MLB lower the threshold for innings pitched to .9 or even .8 innings per game, but the standard for hitters seems to still hold for BA, OBP, Slg and OPS. 

[tony&rodney]

There isn't any reason to change the requirements for either pitchers or batters, especially if it doesn't make any difference as a large number of people claim. It is what it is.

[Redneck Rangers Fan]

On 8/16/2023 at 2:49 PM, chpettit19 said:

I don't think it can die, but maybe it can be changed. There needs to be some floor for PAs to qualify or it kind of ruins it, I think.

As for Seager, he's on fire. Many of these big contract SS the last couple years had, or are having, brutal first years. The ones who aren't currently in their first year are mostly having really nice years. So I hope that's a good sign for Correa.

I’m a Texas fan living in DFW and Seager had his best year of his career last year and his first.  This year is even better and he doesn’t slump very long at all.  He has been between .340 to .360.  He isn’t qualified right now for the batting title because he missed a month with a hammy.  Bo Bichette just missed a month and his name is still there among the leaders.  Good luck guys.  Maybe we talk in the playoffs 

[chpettit19]

11 minutes ago, Redneck Rangers Fan said:

I’m a Texas fan living in DFW and Seager had his best year of his career last year and his first.  This year is even better and he doesn’t slump very long at all.  He has been between .340 to .360.  He isn’t qualified right now for the batting title because he missed a month with a hammy.  Bo Bichette just missed a month and his name is still there among the leaders.  Good luck guys.  Maybe we talk in the playoffs 

Hey, thanks for popping into Twins Territory and engaging us on Twins Daily. I love hearing from other fan bases. Seager is having an absolutely incredible year. Must be fun to watch everyday. I'm going to have to respectfully disagree that he had the best year of his career last year. He had the lowest BA of his career (by a whole lot), lowest OBP of his career (also by quite a bit), and 2nd lowest slugging of his career, which lead to his lowest OPS since 2018. He did play the 2nd most games of his career which helped him hit the most HRs of his career, but it was absolutely not the best season of his career. Was his 3rd lowest OPS+ (118) and well below his career OPS+ (134). It wasn't a bad year in general, but it was definitely a down year for him in nearly every category.

That being said, I think most people around here would be quite happy to see a Twins Rangers matchup in the second round of the playoffs! Cuz that would mean we finally won some playoff games...

[USAFChief]

On 8/19/2023 at 10:24 AM, mnfireman said:

OBP & SLG to name a couple. All rate stats are based on minimum number of PA or IP. Very soon there will be very, very few qualifiers for ERA (which modern stat heads don't care about anyway) as most MLB starters are 5 and done, and with the 5 man (and maybe soon 6 man) rotations most don't get 30 starts a season. Last season for example, there were 45 MLB pitchers who qualified for the ERA title, 1.5 per team.

The leagues name an OBP champion?