Tinsley Tracker: Following KU catcher Michael Tinsley’s chase for .400

By Matt Tait     May 9, 2016

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Kansas catcher Michael Tinsley is chasing that magic mark of .400 at the plate and we'll track his sprint to the finish right here.

There are all kinds of numbers and statistics in the game of baseball that stand alone and are universally recognized as milestones that dozens of baseball players chase year after year.

Few are as powerful as the .406 batting average delivered by legendary Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams in 1941, the last time a Major League Baseball player finished a season above .400.

Kansas City Royals legend George Brett came close in 1980, finishing that year at .390, but the quest for .400 has remained elusive and, with pitchers only getting more powerful, seems to more of a longshot than ever.

That’s at the Major League level. In college, although hitters top .400 on a much more regular basis because there are fewer games, fewer at-bats and fewer top-quality pitchers, hitting the milestone is still something to write home about, and, this season, the Kansas baseball team has one guy chasing the mark.

His name is Michael Tinsley, he’s a junior catcher from Menlo Park, California, and, with a 2-for-3 effort in a losing effort against Texas Tech on Saturday, [he brought his average to exactly .400 for the season.][1]

Tinsley followed that up with a 2-for-4 effort against Tech in the series finale on Sunday and pushed his average to .402 with seven guaranteed games remaining.

KU plays a three-game series at Kansas State this weekend and then will play one game at Wichita State next week before closing the regular season with a three-game set at Oklahoma State.

We won’t be there for all of Tinsley’s at-bats, but we will track his chase for .400 in this blog right here, as he attempts to become the first Jayhawk since Joe DeMarco in 1997 (.439) to finish a season above .400 and just the seventh Jayhawk to accomplish the feat since 1971.

Let’s take a look…

Updated Batting Average: .402
——————-

**Name:** Michael Tinsley

**Year:** Junior
**Position:** Catcher
**Measurables:** 6-foot, 194 pounds
**Bats:** Left
**Throws:** Right
**Multi-hit games:** 25

**Most recent outing:** 2-for-4 in 6-3 home loss to Texas Tech on Sunday, May 8.

**Details:** Tinsley, who has worked hard on going to the opposite field all season, singled to left on a 2-2 count in the bottom of the first inning. In the bottom of the fifth, Tinsley repeated the feat, singling to left on a 2-2 count with one out. Tinsley also walked in the seventh and grounded out in the fifth and ninth.

**Up next:** Friday night at Kansas State.

[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2016/may/07/kansas-catcher-tinsley-stays-hot/

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.