Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Chris Davis has had a career year so far for the Baltimore Orioles. Hitting .315 with an incredible 37 home runs and 93 RBI at the All-Star break. In fact, Davis has career-highs in nearly every single offensive category with nearly 70 games to go.
However, he has some stiff competition if he plans on winning the Triple Crown. Last year, Miguel Cabrera won the award for the first time since Carl Yastrzemski accomplished the feat in 1967. He also became the sixth straight player to win the award in the American League.
The Detroit Tigers‘ superstar isn’t having too shabby of a year, either. Hitting .365 with 30 home runs and 95 RBI, him and Davis have proven to be the best hitters in baseball by far in 2013.
So the question to be raised here is, who has a better chance of winning the Triple Crown?
Well, Cabrera leads two of the categories — RBI and average — while Davis leads the home run category and is second in RBI. The only questionable category for Davis would be average, which trails Cabrera by a pretty heft 50 points.
It’s hard to say that Davis can keep up with Cabrera because he doesn’t exactly have the most proven past, but the way he dominated in the first half showed that he could do so for an extended period of time. Struggling in his career before the 2013 season, the Orioles’ slugger hit over .280 just once in his previous five seasons, also never hitting more than 33 home runs or 85 RBI.
Does Davis’ past mean that he won’t be able to keep up or does it simply mean he hadn’t played to his potential until the past two seasons with the Orioles? In my opinion, it’s both.
While I think he’s turned into an instant superstar, Cabrera is just going to be just far too much for Davis in the second half. Miggy is a career-.321 hitter with nine straight 100-plus RBI seasons and hitting 30 or more home runs in nine of his first 11 MLB seasons.
It will be tough for Cabrera to catch up in home runs, but he is 12 homers ahead of the pace he set at this time last season. In fact, he’s on pace to hit about 55 home runs and finish with about 170 RBI. If he keeps hitting like he did in the first half, there is no way Davis can hang with him.
Sorry, Davis. Cabrera is just the best hitter in baseball and he won’t stop dominating pitchers until he retires.
Connor Muldowney is a columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Connormuldowney, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
