Will he be the batting champion with a batting average of .294 for the first time in history?
Jul 23, 2025
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The Japanese professional baseball team played 63% of its schedule based on the Hanshin Tigers, who played 90 games. Each team has about 50 games left. He will play two All-Star games in Osaka and Yokohama on the 23rd and 24th, and start the second half of the schedule on the 26th.
Yuki Okabayashi (23) of the Chunichi Dragons went 1st-center field against the Yokohama BayStars on the 21st and recorded 1 hit in 4 at-bats. He stepped down as a blunder in the first, third and sixth innings in a row. He hit an infield hit in the last at-bat of the eighth inning to maintain a batting average of 0.294. He had no hits in five at-bats the previous day (20th), and his batting average fell from 0.297 to 0.294 (104 hits in 354). Okabayashi, who had maintained a .30% record, only had four hits in 24 at-bats in the past six games.
However, his batting average of 0.294 (0.29378) is the No. 1 hit in the Central League. Okabayashi defeated Hiroshima Carp's Gojono Kaito (0.29376) by a hair's breadth. Gozo went 7 for 18 in the last 5 games of the first half, raising his batting average.
There are only four batters in the 290s, including Okabayashi and Jojono. Hanshin Tigers teammate Koji Chikamoto hit 0.2922 and Nakano Takumu hit 0.2921. Only 10 batters exceeded 270. Yokohama's Keita Sano is 10th with 0.273. Seiji Uebayashi of Chunichi is in 11th place with 0.263. Sano is the batting champion in 2020. He hit 0.328 that year.
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If this trend continues to the end, the first hitting king in the 20% range may be born. Since the Japanese professional baseball was launched in 1950 as both leagues, the No. 1 batting average has never been below .300.
The 'Go' season has continued over the past few years, but this year's 'Tarzer' is worse than before. In last year's Central League, two .300 hitters came out. Yokohama's Austin Dean posted 0.316, and Yakult Swallows' Domingo Santana posted 0.315. Among Japanese players, Maki Shugo was the highest at 0.294. Yokohama's leading hitter, Maki, was .314 in 2021, 0.291 in 2022, and 0.293 in 2023, which was his debut season. This year is the lowest.
The number of hitters has decreased by .300 every year. There were eight in 2020, seven in 2021, four in 2022, and three in 2023.
Hanshin, who leads the team, had a 1.99 ERA in the first half. The remaining four teams, excluding the overwhelmingly last-place Yakult, also maintained the two-point range. In addition, the 1st to 4th place in ERA recorded 1 point range. It is a terrifying record that contrasts sharply with the batters' empty-handedness.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
