The best hitter in baseball and in the American League is obviously Miguel Cabrera. When it comes to the National League there is not such a clear cut favorite. When you ask people, most of them will give you names like Yadier Molina, Joey Votto and Michael Cuddyer. I am not saying that those players aren’t great hitters and arguably the best in the National League, but I am saying there is a name a lot of people are ignoring. Chris Johnson, of the Atlanta Braves is who people are skipping over. He currently has the best batting average in the NL at a mark of .342 which is .012 points better than the second place hitter, Yadier Molina, batting .330, who just went on the 15 day-DL.

I know, I am an Atlanta Braves fan, so I am biased, but you have to look at what this guy has done. For one, he took over the hot corner flawlessly as he took the reigns from the legend Chipper Jones. As crazy as it sounds, we basically have CJ 2.0 minus the power numbers. Johnson has only hit six home runs and driven in 39 men but that is only because of where he is at in the batting order, which most nights has been eighth and lately sixth behind Brian McCann.

The craziest thing about the year Johnson is having is that he was considered a “throw in” player in the big Justin Upton and Martin Prado trade. Some have even joked that it was a trade for Chris Johnson with Justin Upton thrown in. The one argument that has come from writers is that he has not been batting high enough in the order, therefore, he is not producing the RBI numbers that most .330 hitters do. Either way this guy has taken control of the third base position, when at one point in March it was considered an open position with him and now Milwaukee Brewer Juan Francisco.

Maybe the reason that he has not been getting talked about is because he just recently reached the number of at-bats to qualify for the batting title. Either way he is here now and ready to bring the title back to Atlanta, which hasn’t been with the Braves since Chipper’s batting title season of 2008.

This article is here to let those of you who don’t watch the Atlanta Braves on a regular basis to realize that this guy is a good hitter. A great hitter at that and even though he doesn’t hit the long ball he still manages to find holes and hit the ball hard. Next time you talk about the best hitter in the National League don’t forget to mention this man.