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Beaty Becomes First Driller To Win Batting Title

Matt Beaty Wins Texas League Batting Title On Final Day of Regular Season
Tulsa infielder Matt Beaty became the first player in Drillers franchise history to win a batting title as he finished the year with an outstanding .326 batting average. (Rich Crimi)
September 5, 2017

Tulsa, OK - It came down to the final game of the regular season, but Matt Beaty made history as he became the first Tulsa Driller in franchise history to win a batting title. Beaty had entered the day tied with two other players for the top spot, but ended

Tulsa, OK - It came down to the final game of the regular season, but Matt Beaty made history as he became the first Tulsa Driller in franchise history to win a batting title. Beaty had entered the day tied with two other players for the top spot, but ended the day with the highest batting average in the league among all qualified players.
Beaty claimed the title thanks to a final push that saw him bat .373 over his final 15 games, that also included a 13-game hitting streak to finish out the season. Despite the hot-hitting for Beaty, it still came down to the last day of the regular season.
Beaty, B.J. Boyd of Midland and Ian Miller of Arkansas entered Labor Day with identical .326 batting averages for the season. Miller's average was third as he was technically at 0.32558, but his mark was guaranteed to drop any lower as he was promoted to Triple-A at the end of July. Despite no longer being in the Texas League, he had still reached the minimum number of 2.7 plate appearances per league game needed to qualify for the batting title.
Boyd was the chief challenger for Beaty though as the Midland outfielder had been at .329 going into the Labor Day weekend. However, Boyd stumbled at the finish line as he went into the final day of the season with a .32575 mark. After Beaty went 1-2 during Monday's regular season finale to finish with a .32648 average, Boyd was unable to keep pace as he went 0-5 for the second straight game to finish with a .323 average on the year.
For Beaty, the honor was well-deserved as the Tulsa infielder has been a consistent presence in the Drillers lineup all season long. In addition to leading the league in batting average, Beaty also led the league in doubles (31) while finishing second in extra-base hits (47) and slugging percentage (.505), third in hits (143) and total bases (221), and fourth in on-base percentage (.378).
The Texas League Batting Title was the second year-end award for Beaty after the Tulsa infielder was previously honored as the 2017 Texas League Player of the Year.
Fans can come cheer on Beaty and the Drillers at ONEOK Field this Friday night as they will be playing the Northwest Arkansas Naturals in Game 3 of the Texas League's North Division Playoffs. Fans wanting to purchase playoff tickets for any of the postseason games played at ONEOK Field can do so online at TulsaDrillers.com, in-person at the ONEOK Field ticket office or over the phone at 918-744-5901.