Arraez not satisfied with latest milestone
SAN FRANCISCO
Every time Luis Arraez steps into the batter’s box, he has just one thought on his mind.
“I want to win the battle,” Arraez said.
It doesn’t matter the team he’s facing, the pitcher he’s facing, the score, the game situation, the count. If Arraez is batting, the goal is to make contact, to put the ball in play and, ultimately, get hits.
Usually, that’s easier said than done. Baseball is a game of failure, after all.
But not for Arraez, who seems to get a hit nearly every time he’s up to bat. The 26-year-old infielder, in his first season with the Miami Marlins after being acquired in a trade with the Minnesota Twins and fifth MLB season overall, already has a batting title to his name and is viewed as one of the league’s steadiest hitters.
Arraez hit the latest milestone of his still burgeoning career on Wednesday when he logged his 500th career hit in just his 428th career game. He added three more hits to that total on Friday and entered Saturday’s game against the San Francisco Giants leading MLB with a .388 batting average and .440 on-base percentage while ranking tied for second with 59 hits.
“It’s a lot of hits,” Arraez said, “but I need to keep playing. I want more. I don’t know how many, but I want more.”
The hit total itself is a feat. Only six other active players got to 500 hits quicker than Arraez: Bo Bichette (407 games), Mookie Betts (408), Mike Trout (423), Jose Altuve (426), Whit Merrifield (426) and Jose Abreu (428).
But the way Arraez has gotten his hits is probably even more impressive.
In simplest terms, he’s an analytical anomaly.
In a day and age when power and slugging rule the landscape, Arraez utilizes his bat-to-ball skills and barrel manipulation to get his success. He leads the league this season in batting average despite only having one home run and one triple. His 20.1 percent hard-hit rate — the percentage of balls in play with an exit velocity of at least 95 mph — is in the bottom percentile of MLB this season. His average exit velocity is in the bottom third of the league.
Arraez goes against the grain in this regard. Instead, he follows a timehonored route to success when it comes to hitting, one that long predates advanced analytics: Just hit the ball where the defense isn’t.
“He,” Marlins hitting coach Brant Brown said, “has a unique ability to make contact, a unique ability in how he sees the ball and then obviously the unique ability to work inside the ball.”
Added Marlins manager Skip Schumaker: “The guy can hit any pitch. He’s always in a good count. It feels like he’s always taking a two-strike approach just because the way he acts up there. There’s no panic. He’s just ready to go at any time. I think the most impressive is the way he manipulates the barrel. It doesn’t matter if it’s a high pitch, low pitch, offspeed, velo. It doesn’t matter.”
Arraez visualizes in his mind where he wants to put the ball as soon as he steps up to the plate based on the pitcher and the defense’s alignment.
He has a knack for hitting to all fields and his splits are more even this year than ever — he’s pulling the ball 32.1 percent of the time, hitting the ball up the middle
37.1 percent of the time and going opposite field 30.7 percent.
He rarely pops the ball up (a staggeringly low 0.7 percent this year) to go along with a lot of line drives (30.5 percent in his career, 30.7 percent this season).
That combination, along with an uncanny ability to make contact, has led to his ongoing success.
“Everybody expects he’s going to get a hit. He makes it look easy peasy,” infielder Jean Segura said. “The guy is unbelievable with the way he collects hits. It’s hard to do. It’s not easy to do. People keep mentioning and keep talking about ‘Oh, his exit velo’ and whatever. He’s one of the best for a reason. I hope he continues to do that and have success. The guy has had a great career. He has such great bat-to-ball skills. The way he’s been doing it his whole career, it’s amazing how talented the kid is.”
The comparisons to some of baseball’s top hitters, understandably, have made their rounds. Arraez reminds Schumaker of Tony Gwynn. He reminds Brown of Freddie Freeman in terms of how he approaches an at-bat.
There have also been comps to Rod Carew, whom Arraez is close with and spent time working with during his time with the Twins.
Arraez himself wanted to follow in the footsteps of Endy Chavez, a fellow Venezuelan left-handed hitter.
“I watched him a lot,” Arraez said.
Now, eyes are on Arraez.
This season alone, Arraez already has 17 multihit games, six three-hit games and two four-hit games. He hit for the first cycle in Marlins history.
And he has just six starts in which he did not record a hit.
“It feels like he has 500 [hits] this year,” Schumaker said. “Every time I look up, he’s got two hits. What can you say about Arraez? He’s just been so consistent all year.”
Jordan McPherson: 305-376-2129, @J_McPherson1126