On Monday night, the upstart Miami Marlins opened a three-game home series with the Kansas City Royals with a 9-6 come-from-behind win (box score). At 33-28, the Marlins are three games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East, and they are currently half a game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers for the third and final National League wild card spot.
Miami’s win on Monday was led by (who else?) Luis Arraez, who went 3 for 4 with a double and batted in two runs. Arraez, the reigning American League batting champion, goes 10 for 13 in his last three games and hits .399/.450/.495 this season.
“It’s huge,” Arraez told the Associated Press of his .399 batting average. “I’ve worked hard for this. But this has just begun. I’m not complacent. I want to achieve more.”
Arraez, of course, leads baseball in batting average—Bo Bichette is a distant second at .333—and his .399 average is the tenth highest in a team’s first 61 games since 1941, the year Ted Williams hit .406. Williams is the last player to hit .400 in a full season. Here are the highest batting averages in 61 team games since 1941:
|
1. Chipper Jones, 2008 Braves |
.418 |
.364 |
|
2. Larry Walker, 1997 Rockies |
.416 |
.366 |
|
3. Paul O’Neill, 1994 Yankees |
.411 |
.359 |
|
4. Rod Carew, Angels from 1983 |
.411 |
.339 |
| 5. Stan Musial, Cardinals from 1948 | .409 | .376 |
| 6. Ted Williams, 1948 Red Sox | .407 | .369 |
|
7. Tony Gwynn, 1997 Padres |
.405 |
.372 |
| 8. Ted Williams, 1941 Red Sox | .407 | .406 |
|
9. Roberto Alomar, 1996 Orioles |
.3992 |
.328 |
|
10. Luis Arraez, 2023 Marlins |
.3990 |
? |
Incredibly, three of the nine players for Arraez on that list did not going to win the batting title. Walker, Carew, and Alomar all eventually fell short despite extremely high batting averages. No player has hit .350 in a 162-game season since Josh Hamilton hit .359 in 2010. No player has hit .375 since Walker hit .379 in 1998.
Gwynn (.394 in 1994) and fellow Hall of Famer George Brett (.390 in 1980) are the only players to hit .390 since Williams hit .406 in 1941, and Williams (.388 in 1957) and Carew (.388 in 1973) are the only others to even hit .380 in that time. Odds are that Arraez will hit .400 this year, but he still has a shot at hitting .380-plus, which few others have done.
Arraez has struck out just 11 times in 231 at bats this season — that 4.8% strike rate is by far the lowest in baseball (Keibert Ruiz is next at 7.8%) — and he swung and missed on just 2 .6% of the pitches he’s seen. Steven Kwan is the second lowest with 3.6%. Arraez had a 2.5% pass rate last year, the lowest since Marco Scutaro in 2013 at 1.6%.
For what it’s worth, Statcast says Marlins Park is neutral on hits, though that’s an average number, and Arraez is anything but an average hitter. Marlins Park has a large outfield, which means there’s plenty of grass to land hits on. It is no coincidence that Arraez is hitting .407 at home this season and “only” .390 on the road. He’s in the right ballpark to score hits.
The Marlins acquired Arraez from the Minnesota Twins in an offseason trade that sent Pablo López and two prospects north. López has struggled a bit lately, but overall it’s been a win-win trade. The Marlins sure are happy with their ending.