BBTF's Newsblog Discussion :: Miami Marlins’ Luis Arraez runs away with NL batting title, makes MLB history in process

Baseball Primer Newsblog
— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand

Monday, October 02, 2023

Miami Marlins’ Luis Arraez runs away with NL batting title, makes MLB history in process

Miami Marlins All-Star second baseman Luis Arraez on Sunday became the first player in MLB history to win a batting title in consecutive seasons in different leagues. He won the American League batting title in 2022 while playing with the Minnesota Twins before being traded to the Marlins in the offseason in exchange for right-handed pitcher Pablo Lopez and two prospects.

Arraez finished the season with a .354 batting average, well ahead of runner-up Ronald Acuna Jr. in the National League.

Two others have won a batting title in both leagues but they weren’t in consecutive years. DJ LeMahieu was a batting champion in the National League in 2016 and the American League in 2020, while Ed Delahanty won the NL title in 1899 and the AL title in 1902.

“It means a lot,” Arraez, who last started on Sept. 23 while dealing with a left ankle injury, said Sunday. “I worked hard for this. I worked hard to help my team win. This is amazing.”

Arraez is the first player to finish a season with a batting average above .350 in a full season (excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 season) since Josh Hamilton in 2010 (.359) with the Texas Rangers and the first in the National League since Chipper Jones (.364) with the Atlanta Braves and Albert Pujols (.357) with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2008.

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: October 02, 2023 at 08:53 AM | 13 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: luis arraez

Reader Comments and Retorts

Go to end of page

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

1. Cowboy Popup Posted: October 02, 2023 at 10:01 AM (#6143095)

Love looking at this guy's stat page. He goes oppo more often than he pulls. 93% contact rate. He had 10 IBBs! Very cool stuff, very glad he stayed above .350 and that his brief flirtation with .400 put this guy on my radar.

2. Barry`s_Lazy_Boy Posted: October 02, 2023 at 11:09 AM (#6143103)

3. Froot Loops Posted: October 02, 2023 at 11:13 AM (#6143104)

Arraez for Lopez was a rare star-for-star trade, and it's hard to see how it couldn't have worked out better for both sides. Both players were All-Stars this year, and both teams are in the postseason.

4. Cowboy Popup Posted: October 02, 2023 at 12:14 PM (#6143114)

I love having him in the league, such a unique player for this era. I see that bbref had him with a positive dWAR. The Twins seemed reluctant to trust him at 2B, while the Marlins threw him out there for 129 starts and he had positive value. I'm glad he is handling 2B, to increase his value and make him even more of a modern-day Rod Carew.

Feels right having at 2nd with that offensive profile. I thought he might have some similarities to Luis Castillo but Arraez is just on another level as a hitter. I hope he keeps throwing up high average, first-base caliber offensive seasons while turning DPs at the keystone for a while.

He added a little bit of pop the last two years while increasing his contact rate this year, maybe there's still some upside yet to be tapped too.

5. Booey Posted: October 02, 2023 at 02:33 PM (#6143142)

Love that the .350 drought (in a full season) has finally ended. Batting average is fun!

Last year Jeff McNeill led the entire majors at .326. This year there were 5 players above that, so that's a step in the right direction. There was still only 9 qualifying .300 hitters though - the lowest number ever in the Wild Card (post 1995) era - so MLB still has a long ways to go before they reach the indisputably CORRECT late 1990's levels. ;-)

6. Walt Davis Posted: October 02, 2023 at 02:48 PM (#6143145)

Ed Delahanty, DJ LeMahieu and Luis Arraez has got to be the oddest "only X players have ever...." ever.

7. Itchy Row Posted: October 02, 2023 at 04:56 PM (#6143172)

I just hope LeMahieu and Arraez know how to behave on trains.

8. Born1951 Posted: October 02, 2023 at 07:23 PM (#6143202)

He had just one bad month, hitting .236 in August. He hit .381 in the other months.

9. The Yankee Clapper Posted: October 02, 2023 at 07:55 PM (#6143210)

I just hope LeMahieu and Arraez know how to behave on trains.

Not that much of a needed skill for MLB players these days. They should be OK.

10. The Honorable Ardo Posted: October 02, 2023 at 10:27 PM (#6143238)

I saw Arraez go 4-for-5 on September 2nd this year. Quite a few hitters would be more successful with his approach than going for maximum exit velocity all the time.

11. The Duke Posted: October 02, 2023 at 11:12 PM (#6143253)

He was at or near .400 for quite a while so he must have come well off that to finish this much lower.

Edit: .235 in the month to August doomed him. That's quite a bad month

12. Walt Davis Posted: October 03, 2023 at 03:23 PM (#6143349)

He's gotten off to a late start and, to date, hasn't had a season with more than 617 PA so 3,000 hits is an even tougher ask. But it's hardly impossible. Ichiro got a much later start. Through 26, he's 116 hits ahead of Boggs, 123 behind Gwynn, 160 behind Palmeiro and 200 behind Carew. Arraez can't really slack off -- his career BA is a couple of points below Carew**, 12 below Gwynn and he doesn't have the sort of power (or glove or speed) that will keep him in the lineup when the BA drops below 300 (Palmeiro, Winfield). Anyway, just another 7500 ABs to go. :-)

** Carew started out in the low-BA late 60s, early 70s and, even with two batting titles, had a career BA of just 309 through 26. From 27-32, he hit 354; from 33-38, he hit 320.

13. Cris E Posted: October 03, 2023 at 06:28 PM (#6143384)

Arreaz isn't a sturdy guy. He gets nicked up, gets tired, runs down late in the year. Everyone does, but he missed a lot of time this Sept. Last year the Twins played him quite a bit all the way to the end despite bad wheels down the stretch, and his numbers melted badly as a result.

You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.

<< Back to main

Monday, October 02, 2023

Miami Marlins’ Luis Arraez runs away with NL batting title, makes MLB history in process

Reader Comments and Retorts

BBTF Partner

Support BBTF

Hot Topics