If you told me in March that Josh Harrison would be leading the National League batting race on September 20th, I’d most likely laugh at you.
Looks like the last laugh is on me as Harrison stands one point ahead of Justin Morneau for the batting lead going into Saturday’s games. Although, I wasn’t the only one that was skeptical that he would be in this position at the start of the season.
“Considering what my role was at the beginning of the season, obviously not, but as I got the opportunity to play. I could have told you I could see myself being here,” said Harrison. “Not from the standpoint of being cocky, I’m confident in my abilities and I just go out there and play and have fun.”
Harrison was getting limited at bats as a bench player only coming to the plate 24 times in the month of April. It wasn’t until inconsistencies at the RF position gave him a chance to become an everyday player. It continued with the injuries to Neil Walker and Pedro Alvarez.
One thing that has remained consistent throughout all of it is his confidence level.
“It has influenced me a lot,” said Harrison. “Confidence is something that I’ve never lacked, regardless of any level that I’ve been at or played every day. It’s something that I’ve always had and baseball is a hard enough game and the minute that you lose confidence is the minute where it can wear you down, so regardless of what is going on, you got to have confidence.”
Harrison worked his way into the race after hitting .317 in May and June. His average dropped a bit with a .272 July, but recovered when he hit .356 in August and .354 so far in September. Not only did the numbers qualify him for the batting title, but it helped keep the Pirates in a playoff race that looked doomed due to injuries to other key players.
Every day during batting practice at PNC Park, the jumbotron shows the leaders of different pitching and batting categories. The one category that has shown most over the past few weeks is the N.L. batting race. Harrison tries to keep focused on the task at hand, but has caught himself looking at the screen every once in a while.
“When the stats pop up on the scoreboard you look at it,” said Harrison. “It’s so hard not to, it’s at the point of the season now where guys can not get ahead. Their average moves ahead one or two points. You get three hits and your average moves one or two points and that’s it. It’s one of those things where you don’t really focus on it.”
It’s a solid possibility that Harrison becomes the 12th Pirate to win the N.L. batting champion and first since Freddy Sanchez in 2006, but the one they call J-Hay is looking more towards the bigger picture..A playoff run.
“You hear about it, but you’re not focused on it because the more you focus on that, the more you lose focus on what’s really important,” Harrison said. “That’s going out there and winning games.”
(Photo Credit: Brian Kersey / Getty Images)
