Detroit's Magglio Ordonez currently leads the American League with a .358 batting average. Ichiro Suzuki is second at .349 and Placido Polanco is third with .344.Chone Figgins is batting .347 but is not included in the leaders because he does not have enough plate appearances (ab + bb + sacrafices) to qualify for the leader board.
To qualify for the batting title by the end of the season, Figgins needs to have 502 plate appearances. He currently has 443 pa with 17 games left. He will need to average 3.5 plate appearances per game the rest of the year to qualify and I think he will.
WhenFiggins leads off, he probably gets 4.5-5 plate appearances per game. So even if he takes a couple of days off, he should qualify.
Think back to May 31. Figgins had just been benched two days to "clear his head and work on some things." His batting average was an abysmal .133 (12-for-90) and Angel fans were calling for his head. He racked up 9 hits in 15 at-bats in a 4-game series with the Orioles and hasn't looked back.
Since then Figgins had hit .410 (124-for-302). And he is now within striking distance of a batting title.
It's hard to imagine that any player could transform himself in the middle of the season, but Figgins did it and I'm sure glad he did.
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