Arraez sews up 3rd straight batting title with his 3rd different team
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PHOENIX -- Another season. Another team. Another batting title for Luis Arraez.
Arraez locked up his third straight batting title on Sunday afternoon in the Padres’ 11-2 loss to the D-backs at Chase Field. He became the first player in MLB history to win a batting title with three different teams -- and he's done it in three consecutive seasons, too.
Arraez went 1-for-3 in the regular-season finale, punctuating his afternoon with a booming sixth-inning double. That elevated his batting average to .314 -- a number well out of reach of his closest pursuers, the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani and the Braves’ Marcell Ozuna. The title wasn't officially locked up until Ozuna went 1-for-8 in Atlanta's doubleheader Monday against the Mets.
Ohtani finished at .310, with Ozuna -- who would have needed at least nine hits on Monday to catch Arraez -- at .302.
“This is special for me,” Arraez said. “I'm here to play baseball. I'm here to help my team win. I'm here to do the little things to win, and, man, I think I did it.”
Arraez's batting title denied Ohtani, the National League leader in home runs and RBIs, the first NL Triple Crown since Joe Medwick in 1937.
“Bro, he can do a lot of good things,” said Arraez, whose 2022 batting title denied Aaron Judge a Triple Crown. “He’s different.”
Arraez -- who acknowledged a restless night, knowing what was at stake on Sunday -- finished with precisely 200 hits in 637 at-bats. When he cruised into second base with his sixth-inning double, the Padres dugout erupted. In the bottom half of the inning Arraez was replaced on defense by Donovan Solano at first base.
“What an amazing hitter, what an amazing guy,” said Padres manager Mike Shildt. “He’s been a huge part of this group. I think the record bears it out, since we acquired Luis, what he’s meant to this club.”
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After winning the American League batting crown with the Twins in 2022 and then National League title with the Marlins in ‘23, Arraez became the first Padre to win a batting title since Tony Gwynn in 1997.
“We did say,” Shildt quipped, “that we expect the next couple to come for San Diego.”
Fittingly, the NL batting champion now receives the Tony Gwynn Award. Gwynn won eight batting titles during his tenure in San Diego. Gary Sheffield, who hit .330 in 1992, is the only other Padre to win one.
San Diego landed Arraez in early May and stationed him atop their potent lineup -- a much-needed lefty-hitting on-base threat. As Shildt alluded to, the Padres were 16-18 when they acquired Arraez (on the eve of their first series in Arizona this year). They’re now 93-69 and about to host the NL Wild Card Series.
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Arraez became the first player to record four hits in his Padres debut. He later was named to the All-Star team, though he didn’t play in the Midsummer Classic, as he dealt with a left thumb injury. He also recently dealt with a balky left knee. Through it all, Arraez just kept hitting.
“It’s bigger,” Arraez said. “Because I’ve fought a lot this year with my body.”
Arraez racked up 159 of his 200 hits this season with the Padres. That’s the second highest total for a player who was acquired by a team in-season, behind only Frank Taveras’ 167 hits after moving from the Pirates to the Mets in 1979.
From August into September, Arraez reeled off a streak of 141 consecutive plate appearances without a strikeout, the longest streak in 20 years and the second-longest such streak in franchise history. (In 1995, Gwynn reached 170 plate appearances without punching out.)
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Arraez’s approach came to define the pesky Padres’ offense. They posted the Majors’ lowest strikeout rate, the highest contact rate and the highest batting average.
“You add Luis to it, and he’s like the prototype of what we’re looking for -- a guy that takes tough at-bats, can handle the bat, move the ball around,” Shildt said. “He’s really good with two strikes, puts the ball in play. It just fortified the identity and entrenched it a little bit more.”
Arraez is San Diego’s first batting champ in 27 years. He’s under contract next season and has no plans to make it four teams in four years -- nor do the Padres.
“I love San Diego,” Arraez said. “They opened the door for me. I feel like [it’s] a family here.”