Arraez a big hit in both major leagues

Luis Arraez may be the best hitter hardly anyone in North America knows about. His middle name is Sangel, but it may as well be Anonymous.

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-By Bruce Penton

April 23, 2023

Avid baseball fans surely know about Arraez, because he won the American League batting championship last year with Minnesota Twins. In the off-season, he was traded to Miami Marlins, but he brought his bat along to the National League team and appears ready to accomplish a rare feat: Back-to-back batting titles in two different leagues.

Only a few players, in the era going back more than half a century to the 1970s, were so-called natural-born hitters. Only a handful could seemingly bat .340 or .350 without blinking, such as Rod Carew, Wade Boggs, George Brett, Larry Walker, Tony Gwynn and Ichiro Suzuki. In the past 50 years, pitchers have become dominant in the mano a mano battle with hitters. Need proof? In 1987, for instance, major league batters hit a combined .261. Last year, that figure was .243.

Thirteen batters in MLB history have won batting titles with an average over .400, with Ted Williams in 1941 the most recent to do so. That’s 82 years ago.

Since 1970, the highest winning batting average was Gwynn’s .394 in 1994, but that season ended prematurely, on Aug. 12, because of labour problems. Since then, Brett hit .390 in 1980 and Carew batted .388 in 1977. Walker’s .379 in 1999 stands out. Suzuki and Todd Helton both hit .372 to win batting titles since 2000.

And now, it appears, Arraez is about to included in the unofficial list of natural hitters. In 2022, Arraez won the A.L. batting title by hitting .316. The pitching-deficient Twins needed fresh arms and got them from Miami, but had to give up the A.L.’s best hitter to do so. Arraez’s batting title accomplishment was no fluke. In his first three MLB seasons, the Venezuelan posted batting averages of .334, .321 and .294.

There has been no production reduction since he joined the Marlins. Through 20 games, Arraez was leading the majors with a .444 batting average, going hitless in only three of those games. His closest rival, Ronald Acuna, Jr., was a distant .375.

  • Wrote Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com about Arraez: “When Arraez goes up to the plate, he scans the infield to look for the gaps. His specialty is to dump line drives in front of the outfielders for singles. He rarely swings and misses, and he still has more career walks than strikeouts.”
  • Luis Arraez may be the most anonymous player bordering on superstardom who exists in Major League Baseball. Fans will be following his progress this season to see if his career .320 batting average has been a fluke, or just a harbinger of hits to come.
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  • From the parody website The Beaverton: “Rogers Centre renovations include private nook where fans can tell Blue Jays mascot everything they can’t say to their dad.”
  • Winnipeg broadcaster Nicole Welsh, on Twitter: “If I wear a Leafs shirt under my Jets sweater am I going to NH-Hell?”
  • Bob Molinaro of pilotonline.com, on a Virginia brewery producing Bye Dan IPA in commemoration of unpopular Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder selling the team: “Tastes like 23 years of bitterness.”
  • Molinaro again: “NBA playoff TV ratings were the highest in 12 years the weekend after the Masters drew its biggest audience in five years. America’s couches are getting a workout.”
  • Golden Knights Twitter feed after Mark Stone’s two goals led Vegas to a 5-2 win over Winnipeg Iets on April 20: “Nothing like getting Mark Stoned on 4/20.”
  • Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: “Still can't believe the PGA Tour fined Rory McIlroy $3 million for withdrawing from the RBC Heritage – one of the tour’s mandatory ‘designated’ tournaments. In related news, Brooks Koepka of the LIV Tour just found $3 million in his couch cushions.”
  • Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle: “Gad, what a horrible day. Lost my blue check and heard that the A's are NOT rooted in Oakland. Like learning that Santa Claus has joined the LIV Golf Tour.”
  • RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: “UCLA and the USC ended their century-old affiliation with the PAC-12 to join the Big Ten. This reduces the west coast conference to the unPack 10.”
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Another one from fark.com: “Jacob deGrom is already in mid-season form as he leaves game early due to a wrist injury”

Steve Simmons of Sunmedia: “Yusei Kikuchi is 3-0 with a 3.80 earned run average. I'm not like Al Michaels here. I don't believe in miracles.”

Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca