Its very early in the season, but we have no fewer than six batters, each with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title, whose on-base percentage is at least double their batting average:
| Name | PA | BB | K | AVG | OBP | OBP/AVG |
| Russell Martin | 39 | 8 | 13 | .097 | .282 | 2.91 |
| Ryan Schimpf (*) | 48 | 13 | 14 | .152 | .375 | 2.47 |
| Trevor Story | 53 | 9 | 20 | .114 | .264 | 2.32 |
| Travis Jankowski | 41 | 7 | 13 | .121 | .275 | 2.27 |
| Marcus Semien | 46 | 10 | 11 | .171 | .370 | 2.16 |
| Jose Reyes | 51 | 5 | 13 | .087 | .176 | 2.02 |
(Pay close attention to Ryan Schimpf, as he is on pace to join Mark McGwire (1998) as the only players with both 150+ strikeouts and walks in the same season.)
No batting title qualifier in history has managed the OBP = 2 * AVG trick. Here are the closest:
| Season | Name | PA | BB | K | AVG | OBP | OBP/AVG |
| 1976 | Jimmy Wynn | 584 | 127 | 111 | .207 | .377 | 1.82 |
| 1947 | Roy Cullenbine | 607 | 137 | 51 | .224 | .401 | 1.79 |
| 1956 | Eddie Yost | 684 | 151 | 82 | .231 | .412 | 1.78 |
| 1977 | Gene Tenace | 581 | 125 | 119 | .233 | .415 | 1.78 |
| 1991 | Rob Deer | 539 | 89 | 175 | .179 | .314 | 1.75 |
| 1978 | Gene Tenace | 515 | 101 | 98 | .224 | .392 | 1.75 |
| 1974 | Gene Tenace | 612 | 110 | 105 | .211 | .367 | 1.74 |
| 2013 | Dan Uggla | 537 | 77 | 171 | .179 | .309 | 1.73 |
| 1929 | Max Bishop | 616 | 128 | 44 | .232 | .398 | 1.72 |
| 1996 | Rickey Henderson | 602 | 125 | 90 | .241 | .410 | 1.70 |
| 1997 | Gary Sheffield | 582 | 121 | 79 | .250 | .424 | 1.70 |
Here are the leaders for most plate appearances in a season with OBP being at least twice the batting average:
| Bold can mean player is active for this team or player has appeared in MLB * means LHP or LHB, # means switch hitter, + can mean HOFer.”>Player |
When available, we use actual plate appearances from play-by-play game accounts Otherwise estimated using AB + BB + HBP + SF + SH, which excludes catcher interferences. When this color click for a summary of each PA.”>PA |
For recent years, leaders need 3.1 PA per team game played” data-filter=”1″ data-name=”On-Base%”>OBP |
For recent years, leaders need 3.1 PA per team game played Bold indicates highest BA using current stats Gold means awarded title at end of year.” data-filter=”1″ data-name=”Batting Average”>BA |
A Ring indicates the player appeared in WS for winning team.”>Year | Tm | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dick Howser | 189 | .321 | .153 | 1968 | NYY | 35 | 17 |
| Frank Fernandez | 171 | .341 | .170 | 1968 | NYY | 35 | 50 |
| George Williams | 166 | .311 | .152 | 1996 | OAK | 28 | 32 |
| Tim Blackwell | 159 | .338 | .164 | 1979 | CHC | 32 | 25 |
| Gorman Thomas | 143 | .322 | .157 | 1984 | SEA | 28 | 27 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/17/2017.
Generated 4/17/2017.
Wes Westrum misses your single-season leaderboard by the fringe of an eyelash. In 1951 he hit .219 for the Giants with a .400 OBP (OBP-to-BA ratio of 1.83) in 474 PA. The Giants, very famously, played 155 games in 1951, so according to the Play Index Westrum’s 3.06 PA per game makes him ineligible for the batting title. (The batting-title eligibility rules in place in 1951 would not have helped him. Westrum would have needed 2.6 at-bats per the 154 team games originally scheduled, or a rounded-off 400 AB. His actual 1951 AB total was 361.)
Over 1000 PA, career, OBP ≥ 1.6 * BA, sorted by most PA:
5527 Gene Tenace
2849 Wes Westrum
1556 Red Faber
1017 Mickey Lolich