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Dan Uggla was reportedly traded to the Atlanta Braves this afternoon for infielder Omar Infante and pitcher Mike Dunn.

It’s the third major trade in just a matter of days for the Florida Marlins, who also parted ways with pitcher Andrew Miller and outfielder Cameron Maybin earlier this week.

Uggla had no interest staying in a Marlins uniform after rejecting a four-year, $48 million contract extension last week, so it’s hard to fault Florida for trading their power-hitting second basemen. But is a career utility man and a rookie relief pitcher really fair value for one of the most productive offensive players in baseball?

Uggla, who can also play third and the outfield, has four consecutive seasons of at least 31 home runs. He’s a two-time All-Star and a Silver Slugger award winner in 2010. His career OPS is a pleasant .837 and he’s still only 30 years old. Those kinds of players don’t exactly grow on trees.

But players like Infante and Dunn do. 

Infante has never played in more than 142 games in his career and is typically used as a backup infielder all over the diamond. This past season with the Braves he finally got the chance to play on a near full-time basis and had an excellent year. He led the league in hitting for a time and finished with a .321 batting average. He also contributed a handful of doubles (15), home runs (8), and stolen bases (7). 

But just because the 28-year-old made his first All-Star team, doesn’t mean that he’s good enough to be an everyday second basemen (and certainly not one of Uggla’s caliber).

Dunn, meanwhile, came over to the Braves as part of the Javier Vazquez-Melky Cabrera deal and had a nice rookie season for Atlanta. In 25 games he had a 1.89 ERA and 27 strikeouts over 19 innings. Dunn looks like he could be a power lefty out of the bullpen for years to come. But 19 innings is hardly a sufficient sample size over which to trade one of your franchise players.

So why did the Marlins do it?

Well they had to trade Uggla for one. No sense in paying upwards of $10 million for a player who is guaranteed to sign elsewhere at the end of the season. But why sell so low?

The Marlins were desperate for relief help at the trade deadline and they’re still desperate for it now. Aside from closer Leo Nunez and set-up man Burke Badenhop, the Marlins relief corps had a difficult time finishing games last season. Out of 64 save opportunities, the Marlins only converted 39 of them for a 61 save percentage.

That’s horrifyingly bad. The Marlins finished with a 80-82 record, and 40 of those losses belonged to relievers. That’s the difference between a third place finish and a playoff berth. With Dunn aboard along with former Boston lefty Dustin Richardson and San Diego relievers Ryan Webb and Edward Mujica, the Marlins now have a solid staff to back up a promising rotation.

But how do they replace Uggla’s bat?

Nobody in that lineup, Hanley Ramirez and Mike Stanton included, has the pop to equal Uggla’s production. Infante is a nice player but he’s a far cry from an intimidating hitter (45 career home runs in nine seasons).

It’s reasonable to assume that the always cost-conscious Marlins were looking to shed payroll so that they could afford to pay arbitration to some of their rising stars, like Nunez and Gaby Sanchez. But those players won’t be making big dollars for a few more years.

The more likely explanation is that the Marlins grew tired of waiting for Miller (25) and Maybin (23) to emerge as superstars and cut their losses to allow other players from their bursting minor league system to come up.

This is a perfectly reasonable course of action for a team in the midst of a long-term rebuilding project. But small market teams like the Marlins can’t afford to sell off potential All-Star talents for below market value.

Had they held on to Miller, Maybin, and Uggla till after the winter meetings, they would have been almost guaranteed to get better offers for each of their players. Decisive action is not always the correct action.

Marlins fans can only hope that they won’t be trying to figure out ways to beat their three former players as they rise to stardom in new cities.

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It’s official…the baseball offseason is finally under way. 

With GM meetings going on in Orlando, the action finally got started today with the Marlins finding a trading partner for Dan Uggla. 

Jerry Crasnick is reporting via Twitter that the Atlanta Braves have acquired Uggla for utility man Omar Infante and left-handed reliever Mike Dunn. 

So how does this impact his fantasy value for 2011?

As an owner of Uggla in my most important keeper league, I have obviously been quite interested in his landing spot. 

Sadly, the Rockies did not revive their long-rumored interest in the stocky second baseman.  

Atlanta is about as uninteresting as a destination can be for Uggla in that it probably does not significantly affect his value one way or the other. 

On the plus side, Turner Field in Atlanta yields a few more home runs than Sun Life Stadium in Miami, but Uggla’s splits do not indicate that his home ballpark as a Marlin was holding him back in a big way.  

In just under 3,000 at-bats over the last five seasons, Uggla hit .261 at home and only .266 on the road with 78 home runs at home and 76 on the road.  Moreover, RBI opportunities and run totals do not figure to receive a significant boost by going from Florida’s lineup to Atlanta’s as the two were fairly similar offensive teams in 2010.

The most important consideration may be Uggla’s playing time.  You have to think that Atlanta would not trade for Uggla unless they planned on him being an everyday player, but with Chipper Jones, Martin Prado, Alex Gonzalez, and rookie Freddie Freeman sure to see substantial infield time, it is possible that Uggla may see a few more days off than fantasy owners would like. 

There has been some talk of Uggla seeing time in the outfield, but as big of a defensive liability as he is, you should not count on added outfield eligibility in 2011. 

Of course, all the playing time worries will surely be assuaged when Chipper goes down in Spring Training, Prado moves permanently to third, and Uggla becomes the only second baseman to hit 30 home runs in five consecutive seasons (he is already the only one to do it in four straight).

Ultimately, the pros and cons of Uggla are the same as they were yesterday.  Whether in Florida or Atlanta, he is still a 30-homer guy that could hit .245 or .285. 

Written by Brett Talley exclusively for thefantasyfix.com.  Brett is a law student in Dallas who is counting down the days until he can do baseball mock drafts in class.  You can follow him on Twitter @therealTAL.

[Find the original article here]

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The Atlanta Braves acquired All-Star second baseman Dan Uggla from the Florida Marlins in a trade for utilityman Omar Infante and pitcher Mike Dunn. 

The trade reunited Dan Uggla with his former skipper Fredi Gonzalez who was fired in June after the Marlins underperformed. 

Uggla, 30, was in negotiations with the Marlins on a long-term deal but he rejected a four year contract offer valued at $48 million because he wanted a fifth year added to the offer.

Uggla leaves the Marlins as the all time leader in home runs with 154 home runs in five seasons with Florida and takes his talents to Atlanta, bringing a much-needed power bat to a Braves lineup that has lost it in recent years with injuries and departures of Mark Teixeria and Andruw Jones. 

Uggla is currently in his final year of team control, and will be a free agent after the season unless the Braves sign him to a contract extension. 

On the Marlins end, this deal fulfills team needs rather than acquiring the best available blue-chip prospect for the slugger. All-star Omar Infante is all but likely to be the teams starting second baseman, brining a much better glove at the position than Dan Uggla. If not second, the utlitityman Infante is likely to find a landing spot at third base or centerfield.  

Offensively, Infante was one of the better hitters in the National League, hitting .321 (ranked third) to go along with eight home runs and 47 RBIs in 134 games played. 

Mike Dunn, on the other hand, fulfills the Marlins need for a left-handed reliever who can be an effective arm and strikeout machine. Dunn was 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA, striking out 27 batters in 19 innings pitched. 

Dunn could find himself in the mix for the eight inning job or a specialist role rather than a closer considering the Marlins are thin with lefties. 

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It’s official.

Dan Uggla‘s somewhat rocky tenure in South Beach is over, and he’s on his way to Atlanta to join what should be a star-studded cast of Braves for the 2011 season.

The Braves surrendered infielder Omar Infante and reliever Mike Dunn to get Uggla.

Uggla is currently in the midst of one of the most impressive runs ever for a second baseman, at least in terms of power. He has hit at least 31 home runs in each of the past four seasons. He also has driven in at least 88 runs in each of his five big-league seasons.

He doesn’t offer much in the way of high average (set a career high at .287 this season) and he certainly strikes out more than a few times (760 in five seasons), but considering he offers more power than any other second baseman in the league (no offense, Chase Utley), you know the Braves won’t complain.

This trade is all fine and dandy for the Braves, but you kind of get the feeling the Marlins got screwed, and that they were just looking to dump Uggla. 

However, I find it hard to believe that the most they could get for him was Infante, a 28-year-old utility player who has only played in 100 games in one season three times, and Dunn, a 25-year-old rookie reliever with 29 games of experience under his belt. He’s only pitched 23 innings!

As an Orioles fan, I was kind of hoping Andy MacPhail would jump in on the Uggla sweepstakes, but I feared the Marlins would want too much. Had I known that he could be had for a unproven reliever and a Julio Lugo-type, I would have called MacPhail and the Marlins and scheduled the meet myself.

I don’t think there’s anyway in heck that you can argue that the Marlins came out on top in this one, even if Uggla is a free agent at the end of next season.

Convince me I’m wrong.

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The Braves had a very good season in 2010 as they went 91-71 and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2005. The emergence of some rookies as well as the presence of off-season acquisitions gave Bobby Cox one last postseason run as the Braves’ manager.

The Braves were a patient team, ranking fourth in the MLB in OBP at .339 while hitting at an average clip of .258, 14th in the league. They were also third in the league in ERA at 3.56, trailing only the world champion San Francisco Giants and the playoff-less San Diego Padres.

Some low-lights included an uncharacteristic 126 errors in the field, one error off the lead in the MLB behind the lowly Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates. Those two teams had a combined record of 122-198.

Who are the players that could make an impact in spring training for the 2011 Braves under Freddi Gonzalez?

So far, relief pitchers Billy Wagner, who followed his promise to retire after the season, and Takashi Saito, who has been let go, have set the stage for Craig Kimbrel and Jonny Venters to stabilize the bullpen.

Derrek Lee 1B, Rick Ankiel CF, Eric Hinske LF/1B, Troy Glaus 1B/3B, and Kyle Farnsworth RP have all declared for free agency and most likely will not return to the Braves. Contractual options on SS Alex Gonzalez and INF/OF Omar Infante were picked up. Assuming no trades or free-agency pickups, next year’s lineup could appear as follows:

(Player – position – 2010 BA/HR/RBI/OBP/SLUG.)

1. Omar Infante LF .321 / 8 / 47 / .359 / .416 in 471 at bats

2. Jason Heyward RF .277 / 18 / 72 / .393 / .456 in 520 at bats

3. Chipper Jones 3B .265 / 10 / 46 / .381 / .426 in 317 at bats

4. Brian McCann C .269 / 21 / 77 / .375 / .453 in 479 at bats

5. Martin Prado 2B .307 / 15 / 66 / .350 / .459 in 599 at bats

6. Alex Gonzalez SS .250 / 23 / 88 / .294 / .447 in 595 at bats (267 with the Braves)

7. Nate McLouth CF .190 / 6 / 24 / .298 / .322 in 242 at bats

8. Freddie Freeman 1B .167 / 1 / 1 / .167 / .333 in 24 at bats (.319 / 18 / 87 / .378 / .521 in 519 AAA at bats)

Omar Infante had an all-star season in 2010 and his bat is too valuable to come off the bench. He is used to play many infield positions and left field. Chipper has stated he will make a return in 2011 after having a surgery on a torn ACL suffered in mid-season. Prado has been moved down to a run producing spot as he has more power than Infante.

Alex Gonzalez came over from Toronto as a source of power, but only offered 6 home runs as a Brave in 267 at-bats, as opposed to 17 in 328 at-bats as a Blue Jay. The probable departure of Derrek Lee means a starting job for Freddie Freeman, who had great numbers at AAA Gwinnett.

Where does the bench stand for Spring Training 2011?

Matt Diaz LF (he will probably remain as a platoon player due to his good numbers versus left-handed pitching)

David Ross C

Diory Hernandez SS

Brooks Conrad 2B/3B

Brandon Hicks INF

Top Minor Leaguers:

Tyler Pastornicky SS (acquired in the Alex Gonzalez trade that sent Yunel Escobar to Toronto)

Jordan Schafer CF

Barbaro Canizares 1B

What stands out in the projected lineup is the low slugging percentages and the lack of power that has plagued this club for the past few years. It may finally be the year to reach for a power-hitting left or center fielder.

The Braves have already acquired Joe Mather, but he is still a raw player and will most likely remain in the minors. Center field looks to be an obvious hole with the disappointment of Nate McClouth. However, beyond a 41-year-old Jim Edmonds, no 2011 free agents have a track record for power.

The only other option is to acquire a left or right fielder and make a position change. The class is headlined by Carl Crawford, who is more of a base-stealer but still offers some power, Jayson Werth, who would probably have to be a left fielder, and Colby Rasmus.

Adam Dunn is also out there, but would definitely have to be a left fielder, and a terrible one at that—but where else can you pick up 40 home runs a year?

If the Braves can make a big splash in free agency or concoct a smart trade, they would easily make the jump to being championship contenders.

The Braves are and have always been propped up by elite pitching and the makeup of last year’s third-ranked pitching staff will remain mostly unchanged. The San Francisco Giants have proved pitching does indeed win championships. A quick look at the rotation:

(2010 ERA / Record / Strikeouts)

1. Tim Hudson 2.83 / 17-9 / 139 in 34 starts

2. Derek Lowe 4.00 / 16-12 / 136 in 33 starts

3. Tommy Hanson 3.33 / 10-11 / 173 in 34 starts

4. Jair Jurrjens 4.64 / 7-6 / 86 in 20 starts

5. Mike Minor/Brandon Beachy 5.98 / 3-2 / 43 in 8 MLB starts – 3.00 / 0-0 / 15 in 2 MLB starts

Tim Hudson vaulted to the ace position with his Cy Young candidacy-worthy year. Jurrjens was hampered by injuries for most of the year and consequently had a down year. The battle for the fifth starting spot will probably be between Mike Minor and Brandon Beachy, who both had good showings in starts down the stretch.

The bullpen looks like:

Middle Relief:

Erik O’Flaherty

Mike Dunn

Cristhian Martinez

Kris Medlen is possible to return from Tommy John Surgery after All-Star break.

Set-up men (seventh-eighth inning):

Jonny Venters

Peter Moylan

Jonny Venters received a lot of work in 2010. He posted a 1.95 ERA in 83 innings of work, with only one home run given up for the year.

Closer:

Craig Kimbrel is projected to be the closer with the departure of Billy Wagner. His upper 90s fastball and baffling slider have acted as validation.

Top minor leaguers:

Julio Teheran

Randall Delgado

Arodys Vizcaino

Zeke Spruill

As usual, the Braves farm system contains a bunch of highly regarded pitchers that could break into the majors in 2011. Leading the hype is right-handed pitcher Julio Teheran, who might just make the team from spring training. The only off-season moves in terms of pitching would be to acquire a few low level middle relief pitchers to fill out a bullpen that was one of the best in the majors in 2010.

There was also something of a coaching carousel in the dugout and next to the base paths. The Braves fired first-base coach Glenn Hubbard and bench coach Chino Cadahia named Carlos Tosca bench coach in his place. They also reassigned hitting coach Terry Pendleton to first-base coach and named Larry Parrish hitting coach.

Tosca was the Marlins bench coach under Gonzalez and Parrish came from coaching the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens in the farm system of the Detroit Tigers. Roger McDowell, Brian Snitker, and Eddie Perez remain the pitching, third-base, and bullpen coaches, respectively.

Some how, every year the Braves come out of Spring Training ready to compete for the pennant and there’s no reason to expect 2011 to be any different. 2010 will be marked down as a fluky weak defensive performance, so expect a rebound in that department. With a solid pitching staff, a new face or two inserted into the lineup, and a vaulting of Jason Heyward into stardom, the Braves will have sight of a World Series spot.

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To the best of my ability, I will lay out what I believe will idealize the Braves 2011 lineup.

I think there are a few things to be changed from the roster of the previous year, so here is what I believe will give the Braves a good postseason run.

And hopefully they’ll trample those Giants along the way.

Begin Slideshow

I can hear it now all over Braves Nation, “Omar Infante had better be starting every day next season.” And while he has had a truly outstanding season, do not expect it to continue next year.

Now that I have 75 percent of Braves Nation ready to kill me, maybe I should explain myself.

Let me start off by saying that I have the utmost respect for Omar and his abilities as a player. I also believe he is the best super utility player in Major League Baseball.

Now on to my reasoning to why he should remain in that role.

First off, this season Infante has enjoyed a ridiculously high BABIP at .381. If his BABIP normalizes to his career average and the much more attainable .315, you can expect him to hit about .273 next season.

Now, a lot of people will say that this is way too simplistic of a way to show his potential drop-off, and I agree completely. Most fans agree that if Infante can give us a .300 batting average next season, they would be very happy with his production and this is where I completely disagree with them.

Let’s assume Omar plays every day next season and accumulates 500 at-bats (not total plate apperances, just at-bats). Based on a 500 at-bat season, he would have a total of 150 hits.

Now, this season he has 126 hits and a grand total of 22 extra-base hits (13 doubles, two triples, seven home runs). Now let’s average those percentages over 150 hits:

Doubles—(126/13)*150 = 15 doubles

Triples—(126/2)*150 = 2 triples

Home Runs—(126/7)*150 = 8 home runs

So if you expect a .300 average from Infante and he kept the same ratios of hits to extra-base hits, you can expect him to hit 15 doubles, two triples, and eight home runs.

Now, let’s turn that line into a slugging percentage. Total bases = 1B + (2*2B) + (3*3B) + (4*HR)

TB = 125 + 30 + 6 + 32, so that’s 193 total bases. Now we divide that by his total AB. 193/500 = .386 SLG %.

Now let’s also assume that he keeps the same batting average to OBP difference which currently stands at .036. This would make his slash line look like this:

.300/.336/.386/.722

That is a horrible line for an everyday player and it proves that looking at batting average alone is a terrible way of evaluating a player.

Now, by adding Infante to an everyday role next season, not only do you weaken the starting lineup, but you then significantly weaken the bench because there is not a utility player out there that can match Omar’s production.

I love Omar Infante and what he brings to this team, and he has been great this season. I have no desire for him to be moved from the starting lineup this season.

Unfortunately, Omar’s OBP and OPS are completely driven by his batting average, meaning that if he doesn’t hit .330-plus, he has no value as an every day player.

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It’s one of the most amazing stories of the 2010 baseball season. Omar Infante, a career utility player, has stepped into a starting role with the Atlanta Braves and is threatening to become one of the most unlikely batting title winners in baseball history.

On July 30th, the Braves All-Star second baseman, Martin Prado, broke his finger sliding into home plate.   Prado landed on the 15-day DL and Infante was inserted into the starting lineup at second base.

Since that day Infante has hit .363 with a .400 on-base and a .513 slugging percentage. 

He’s scored 29 runs, hit five home runs and thrown in three stolen bases to boot.  Since July 29th, he’s had 23 multi-hit games and at one point, hit safely in 14 straight. 

On August 10th, Chipper Jones was lost for the season when he tore his ACL making a dazzling play at third base.  The injury assured that Infante would remain at second base and Prado would play third upon his return. 

Infante has been an absolute life-saver for the Braves, playing in every game since that July 29th date.  In all but two of those games he’s batted lead-off and helped Atlanta maintain their NL East lead.   

Even before Prado and Chipper’s injury, Infante was a valuable asset for the Braves.  In the 73 prior games, Infante started 40 of them, playing five different positions: 2B, SS, 3B, LF and RF.  He hit .330 in those games, including a .429 mark in July.

With Infante‘s insertion into the starting role and his continued prowess at the plate, his chances of winning the batting title have become a distinct possibility.

In order to qualify for the batting title, a player must record 502 plate appearances.  Infante is presently hitting a NL best .343 and  stands at 393 PAs with 25 games remaining on the Braves schedule.  If he continues his pace of 4.6 plate appearances per game, achieved since he became a full-time starter, Infante will finish with 512 plate appearances.  He’ll obviously have to play every game to make this mark, but even if he doesn’t he can still win the batting title.

How you ask? 

Well it’s simple.  If Infante finishes with say, 490 appearances, Major League Baseball will add 12 at-bats to his total and recalculate his batting average. These at-bats are considered hitless ones.

Tony Gwynn won a batting title in this manner in 1996 when he recorded 498 plate appearances and 451 at-bats.  His average of .364 was reduced to .359 and he still led the National League. 

Prior to this season, Infante was only a .264 career hitter (though he did hit .305 last year).  The important fact to remember with Infante though, is that he is only 28 years old.  Players often reach their peak around that age, a fact that’s even more true for Infante, who’s body has less wear than others because of his reduced role in prior seasons. 

Carlos Gonzalez, with an assist from Coors field, is Infante’s main competition.  He’s hitting .337 to Infante’s .343.  Joey Votto is a distant third at .321. 

It’s difficult to determine who the most unlikely batting title winner in NL history is. 

Al Oliver, a name few know, won the title with Montreal in 1982.  But he hit over .300 eleven times in his career.  Another Atlanta Brave, Ralph Garr won the title in 1974 (Garr was also 28 when he accomplished the feat).  Rico Carty also did it for the Braves in 1970.  Very few people outside of Atlanta, remember these names. 

In the American League, Bill Mueller hit .326 in 2003.  He was a .286 career hitter before that.   Mueller was also out of baseball three seasons later. 

The only distant comparison for Infante is Snuffy Stirnweiss.  Stirnweiss played for the Yankees in 1945 when baseball was severely depleted by the departure of players to World War II.  Stirnweiss hit .309 in 1945. He never hit above .256 again and hit only .268 for his career. 

With Infante‘s hitting showing no signs of slowing down and a decent shot at 502 plate appearances, he has a very real chance to become one of the most unlikely batting champions in baseball history 

I’d love to hear some readers thoughts about whether or not Infante might be the most unlikely batting champ in the long history of baseball and whether or not he has a legitimate chance at the feat.

You can view the history of NL and AL batting champs, going all the way back to when Levi Meyerle hit .492 in 1871, here. 

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The Atlanta Braves should think twice before they make a move that will weaken their chances at winning a second World Series title.

While nothing has happened yet, the stars are certainly aligned for Mr. May, Troy Glaus, to replace All-Star Omar Infante in the lineup at third base, which would bump Martin Prado back to second base.

Since Atlanta acquired first baseman Derrek Lee from the Chicago Cubs, Glaus has rested his ailing knees and returned to play three games for the Gwinnett Braves at the hot corner this week.

During those three games, May’s NL Player of the Month has been raking at the plate, racking up two home runs, seven RBI’s, and five hits in 10 at-bats at the Triple-A level.

However, while those numbers and Glaus’ improving health may impress GM Frank Wren and manager Bobby Cox enough for them to make him the starting third baseman in place of the injured Chipper Jones, it’s a bad move.

And I’m not saying that merely based on his .174 batting average and two home runs over the last 46 games.

Glaus should not re-enter the daily lineup because Atlanta cannot afford to take super utility man Omar Infante out of the daily lineup.

According to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Infante has a .381 batting average in 27 consecutive starts and has shown some uncharacteristic power recently, hitting five home runs in his last 17 games.

Additionally, Infante has been consistently good in 2010, unlike Glaus, posting a .365 batting average in 65 games since June 1, which would put him in contention for the batting title if he had enough at-bats to be eligible.

Defensively, Infante has been solid, committing only 12 errors despite lining up at five different positions for the 2010 Braves.

Most importantly, Infante has committed only four errors in 99 chances at second base, his current position, this season.

As for Glaus’ fielding skills, both he and Prado have the same career fielding percentage at third base (.952), but you would have to think that the younger Prado would be more mobile and agile than Glaus and his ailing knees.

Granted, the Braves’ bench is significantly weaker without Infante and losing the reliable guy who can play almost anywhere should a starter go down with an injury hurts the bench.

However, Atlanta’s subs are still strong, boasting the likes of Melky Cabrera, Eric Hinske, David Ross, and the team’s best clutch hitter in Brooks Conrad.

In addition to those guys, Glaus would provide a power bat off the bench and could serve as the designated hitter should the Braves advance to the World Series.

As far as the rest of the season is concerned, Atlanta hopes that Glaus will once again prove his doubters wrong by playing good defense at third base and being a key bat in the Braves’ lineup down the stretch in September and potentially October.

Unfortunately for Atlanta, hope should be a last resort in a pennant race.

If the Braves want to hold off the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East race, they need to go with the best guys they have—a strategy that finds Omar Infante in the everyday lineup and Troy Glaus on the bench.

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Albert Pujols is once again defying the odds and shredding the history books while the young “Big Red Machine,” Joey Votto, is establishing his reputation as one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball. Both have a legitimate chance of winning the first Triple Crown since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.

So we thought.

Last month, we were all scratching our heads laughing at the “fool,” Charlie Manuel, for selecting super-utility man Omar Infante of the Atlanta Braves to the National League All-Star team.

One month later, Infante has proven his All-Star ability and is on track to win the National League batting title.

Now who’s laughing?

Infante has the league’s best batting average at .347. However, to qualify for the batting title, a player must have a total of 502 plate appearances. Infante is currently at 342.

That means that Infante must play the remaining 35 games of the season and average 4.4 plate appearances each game.

This is a very unlikely scenario and nearly impossible if the Braves can clinch a playoff spot at the end of the season and Bobby Cox decides to rest his players, but in the world of baseball, there is always a loophole.

The Loophole: If a player doesn’t finish with 502 plate appearances, you can the add necessary hitless  plate appearances to get him there. If his new batting average is still good enough to lead the league, he gets his batting title.

As of right now, here are the standings in the NL Triple Crown categories:

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