Arraez gives hat tip to Boomstick after cycle

This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

What did Marlins second baseman Luis Arraez do after becoming the first player in franchise history to hit for the cycle?

Once the celebrations and adrenaline wore down, Arraez took a call from mentor Nelson Cruz and happily showed off the baseball and lineup card from his historic night.

"I said he's got to call me every day, because when he called me [pregame Tuesday], I did something good," Arraez told MLB.com. "He didn't call me [Wednesday], and I got only one hit. But I'm happy when I do something good and I give [the credit] to him.

"He's like my brother. Everything I do here is thanks to him, because he helped me a lot. He supports me a lot, he [told] me about how I need a clear routine."

Arraez and Cruz overlapped in Minnesota from 2019-21, and the four-time Silver Slugger quickly took the youngster under his wing by inviting him to the Dominican Republic to work out in the offseason.

"He was always a great hitter," Cruz told MLB.com's AJ Cassavell. "Lost weight, got stronger, be healthy. Now he can go out there and perform the way he always does. He's able to be more consistent with power, hitting the ball in the gap and, [Tuesday], going oppo. It's impressive for him."

The 26-year-old Arraez blossomed into the 2022 American League batting champion, and he has gotten off to a hot start with his new club. Arraez is just the fifth qualified hitter in the Wild Card Era with a .500-plus average through the team’s first 13 games of a season.

"He worked really hard to be where he's at right now," Cruz said. "It's nice to see all the work paying off."