Colorado Rockies’ DJ LeMahieu Wins Batting Title After Sitting Out
By Nick Fustor
Colorado Rockies’ second baseman DJ LeMahieu enjoyed an excellent season at the plate, but sat out this weekend to secure the National League batting title.
Much of the lore of Ted Williams career is centered around his 1941 season when he hit .406, and did so by playing up until the end of the season. The same can’t be said for DJ LeMahieu, who was benched for much of the past week by Rockies manager Walt Weiss in order to win the NL batting title.
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LeMahieu finished the season with a .348 average, while garnering a .911 OPS with 11 home runs. Sure, the average isn’t as impressive as Williams – but for 2016 standards, any average above .330 is an accomplishment.
But much of the celebration for LeMahieu, who enjoyed a breakout season, is hindered by the fact that he barely played over the last week of the season. Weiss kept LeMahieu on the bench on Saturday and Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers after he went 0-for-2 on Friday. The 28-year-old also sat out Wednesday and Thursday.
Weiss said via ESPN that he decided to keep LeMahieu on the bench because of the injury to Washington Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy, who finished the season with a .347 average, but had not played in the field since Sept. 17.
"“It’s a unique situation because Murphy’s injured, he’s not playing,” Weiss said. “If he’s playing, they could fight it out. I don’t want DJ to lose a batting title that way [with Murphy not playing], so I’m going to pay attention to the math. My philosophy, whether you like it or not, is I’m going to take care of the guys who take care of our team. DJ’s one of those guys that takes care of our team."
LeMahieu seemed upset by the decision, as he told reporters “it hasn’t been a very fun week.”
Nonetheless, LeMahieu and Murphy enjoyed excellent seasons. While LeMahieu’s numbers may have been inflated by playing in the hitter-friendly Coors Field, his improvements at the plate were noticeable throughout the season.
Aside from raising his average by 47 points, LeMahieu managed to post a .416 OBP and .495 slugging percentage while hitting a career-high 11 home runs. He previously hadn’t topped six homers. LeMahieu also scored 104 runs and drove in 66 runs.
Much of his improved stats were due to a more patient approach at the plate. While lowering his strikeout percentage from 17.3 percent last year to 12.6 this season, he also drew a walk in 10.4 percent of his at-bats. He also drew a career-high 66 walks.
Now that he’s entered his prime, LeMahieu figures to be a central piece to the Rockies rebuilding process. Colorado’s 75-87 record was a marked improvement over the 68-94 record they had last season.
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If the team can secure consistent pitching, their offense – with LeMahieu as one of the key contributors – could vault the team to the .500 mark next season.
Update (10/3/16): Walt Weiss announced he will step down as manager of the Rockies.