Watch out, AL: Arraez is hitting homers now

MINNEAPOLIS -- What does it look like to improve upon an already elite hit tool? You’re seeing it with your own eyes.

What Luis Arraez had already done in his first three big league seasons was clearly uncommon. That was evident just from watching him spit on close pitches and spray line drives all over the field, day after day, with his throwback, contact-oriented approach that seemingly made it clear that he is destined for a batting title.

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Somehow, he has taken that to the next level. Not only is he hitting a Majors-leading .367 after his 3-for-5 performance on Saturday, but he’s popping tape-measure grand slams now, too -- and that uncharacteristically big swing off Shane Baz in the third inning made up for the absence of both Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa from the lineup in the Twins’ 6-5 victory over the Rays at Target Field.

“It really was a moment, an exclamation point,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “That was a very big moment, and something I think really turned the game completely around in our favor.”

The effort marked Arraez’s seventh game with three or more hits this season, and his 12th multi-hit game in his last 19 starts. His .449 on-base percentage also remains tops in the Majors. He’s hitting .519/.567/.741 in his past seven games.

“Mind-blowing,” said Emilio Pagán, who earned his eighth save with a clean ninth inning. “It doesn't make sense. Nobody should be able to get that many hits that many days in a row. He's incredible. He puts a lot of work into it, and I hope he keeps it going all year. I told him yesterday he's going to win the batting title, be the All-Star first baseman.”

Arraez has also managed to pull a pair of homers -- one off Gerrit Cole on Thursday as the Twins opened the game with three straight blasts off the Yankees ace, and his first career grand slam on Saturday, which traveled a career-best 403 feet per Statcast and was followed by an emphatic bat flip that sent his lumber twirling high above his head.

Arraez insists that there was nothing different about his swing or his approach on those blasts, and that he’s simply going up there trying to make contact, like he always does. But those around him indicate that there is more to the story -- starting with Frank Valdez, the Miami-based private hitting coach with whom Arraez started working last year after they were introduced by Nelson Cruz.

“I'm expecting to make him a better hitter, a more complete hitter,” Valdez said. “Because Luis, he makes a lot of contact. We can take advantage of how much contact he makes and find some options where he can elevate some balls and do a couple of things differently.”

Arraez has changed his batting stance to be slightly more upright this season, with his shoulders more level in his swing, which Valdez explains will help him better use his lower half in pulling and driving balls, particularly those located middle-in. Valdez also said that Arraez previously allowed every pitch to travel too much in the zone, which diminished his ability to damage hittable offerings.

Arraez joined Cruz and Valdez in the Dominican Republic last offseason for an intense conditioning regimen and hitting work, strengthening his body and particularly his problematic legs. Baldelli thinks that playing first base this season has also helped Arraez’s legs stay fresher than they did when he was playing at third base or in the outfield.

“I think the durability part of this is really showing up for him,” Baldelli said. “I think it's a big part of his preparation. And he's obviously taking care of himself very well.”

And what do you know? That grand slam came on a fastball that ended up middle-in -- just the kind of pitch Valdez hoped Arraez would drive more effectively -- and it ended up in the right-field stands. Baldelli thinks it’s a lightning-quick adjustment that Arraez makes when he’s being pitched that way. It won’t happen often -- and that’s what they want, since they don’t want him to get away from the hitter that’s pushing for a batting title.

“It’s really impressive the way he can go back-and-forth between letting the ball travel and spraying the ball all over the field, to being pitched a certain way, quickly making that move, and turning on the ball,” Baldelli said. “He makes it look pretty easy. It’s not easy. And most people can’t do both of those two things. They’re just not capable.”

With the more upright batting stance and tweaked mechanics, this is the best version of the contact hitter Arraez has ever been. And when he really leverages that healthy lower half on certain pitches -- as he has done twice in three games -- he has shown this occasional new dimension to his game, too.

He’s clearly not trading off one for the other -- and Valdez thinks the best is, somehow, still to come.

“I'm telling you, it's coming,” Valdez said. “His mentality is going to change. Obviously, his body is going to change. The more he continues producing, he's going to understand that's been working. He's going to be on top of the league."