Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Major League Baseball Should Be Embarrassed by Manny Machado’s Latest Feat

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jake Elman | Last updated Jul 29, 2025 8:11 AM ET

A quick glance at the Major League Baseball hitting leaders through July 28 features a relatively unsurprising sight: San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado has the National League’s highest average.

If Machado leads the Senior Circuit this late in the year, what is he hitting? Is he chasing a .320 or .330 average? What about channelling his inner Tony Gwynn and flirting with .400?

Nope. Machado’s 2-for-4 performance against the New York Mets on Monday night raised his average to .302, the best among qualified National League hitters.

You read that correctly. With only days until August 1, only one qualified National League player has an average above .300. Miami Marlins left fielder Kyle Stowers, owning a .299 average through 335 plate appearances, is the only other NL batter even above .296.

Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado go deep and the @Padres are right back in this game pic.twitter.com/L344TNca51
— MLB (@MLB) July 25, 2025

Compare that to 2013, when Machado hit .283 with 51 doubles and a .746 OPS in his first full season. Twenty-four qualified hitters, from Detroit Tigers superstar Miguel Cabrera (.348) through St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday (.300), batted at least .300, with 12 hitters managing at least a .315 average.

Only two-time MVP Aaron Judge (.342) and Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña (.322) had an average above .315 at publication.

Baseball fans should universally agree at this point that batting average, much like wins, isn’t everything. Shohei Ohtani is almost assured of his fourth MVP in five years, and he’s only hitting .276. Chicago Cubs teammates Pete Crow-Armstrong (.267) and Kyle Tucker (.275) are both on pace to join the 30-30 club.

Suddenly, the thought of a batting champion hitting below .300 doesn’t sound so unrealistic— and wouldn’t that be an incredible feat?

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: