(Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Heading into the 2023 MLB season, we already knew that Miami Marlins infielder Luis Arraez was a brilliant contact hitter.
He won the AL batting title in 2022 with the Minnesota Twins; and he is now well on his way to doing the same in the National League.
As of Friday afternoon, the difference between Arraez and the second-best batting average this year (Ronald Acuna Jr.) was incredibly large:
Highest batting average this season:
.397 – Luis Arraez
.395
.390
.385
.380
.375
.370
.365
.360
.355
.350
.345
.340
.335
.330
.325
.324 – Ronald Acuna Jr
Larger gap between 1st and 2nd than 2nd and 90th in batting average. pic.twitter.com/ldPOOI7S2E
— StatMuse (@statmuse) June 23, 2023
According to StatMuse, there is a larger gap between Arraez and Acuna than between Acuna and the 90th-ranked hitter in the average leaderboards.
That’s unbelievable and tells us how much better Arraez is than the field when it comes to making contact.
Unless something really unexpected happens, the Marlins star is all but guaranteed the batting title.
Yes, there is still a long way to go, but he is perfectly equipped to keep the difference and win the batting crown: he hits line drives around 30 percent of the time, and he rarely strikeouts out: just 15 times this year.
However, his biggest challenge is not overcoming Acuna or any other competitor: it’s completing the first .400 season in MLB since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.
That seems like a tough task, but at .397, he is about to reach the halfway point of the campaign and he is right there.
Can he do the impossible?
Will he write his name among the truly great?
We are in for a fascinating three-month race between Arraez and history.
Regardless of whether he makes it or not, it has been a marvelous display of contact, skill, and determination.
The post Luis Arraez Continues To Be On His Own Level In 2023 appeared first on The Cold Wire.