After the all-star break, Altuve overtook Pablo Sandoval of Arkansas in the batting race and was enjoying a comfortable lead down the stretch. But a handful of extra at-bats may have pushed Turner across the finish line. He went 3-for-10 (probably getting an extra 6 at-bats) in a record-setting, 22-inning win over Vancouver last week and qualified for the batting crown within days, jumping into the race at .340, ahead of Altuve's .334.With five more starts to finish the year, Turner ultimately finished with 510 plate appearances -- 8 more than the minimum to qualify for the batting race (3.1 plate appearances per games played by the team, or 502). He ended the season hitting .337 to Altuve's .330; Sandoval finished third at .320.
Turner's situation is sort of the opposite of what happened last year when Sardine City essentially benched Christian Yelich for the final month of the season. Despite hitting .352, the rookie first-rounder eventually failed to qualify for the batting title, ceding the crown to San Francisco's Hanley Ramirez, who hit .346.
Turner made 112 starts at shortstop for Marietta, splitting time with Didi Gregorius and Derek Jeter. He also had a stint on the disabled list but batted lead off for the Mighty Men against right-handers. Jeter meanwhile made just four starts for Marietta in his final season, collecting 5 hits, and finishing his career as the all-time DMBL hits leader with 2,994 -- just 6 short of 3,000.
While Altuve has to settle for second place in batting average he was far and away the leader in hits (236) along with a league-high 763 plate appearances in 162 starts at second base for the Scorpions. Victor Martinez of San Francisco (194) and Empire City's Daniel Murphy (191) finished behind Altuve in hits.
Turner also finished as the league's leader in on-base percentage (.396), jumping head of Livingston's Jayson Heyward and Poovey's Freddie Freeman (.385).
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