It was a nice run while it lasted.
Marlins second baseman Luis Arraez managed to keep his batting average above .400 as late as June 24. He batted .402 in Miami’s first 78 games this season, spraying 110 hits in 274 at-bats. Pundits began to debate the odds of Arraez finishing the year as the first .400 hitter since Ted Williams reached .406 in 1941.
That’s when 2023’s leading hitter proved to be mortal. Arraez batted .286 from June 25 through the end of August — a nice average for most hitters, though not for a star who aspired to a superhuman feat. He entered September with a .350 BA for the 2023 season, still the best in the majors, though far short of the promised land of .400.
But don’t feel sorry for Arraez. He’s still in line to become the first player to win batting titles in separate leagues in consecutive years. (He led the American League in 2022 with a .316 BA while playing for the Minnesota Twins.) And he stands apart as the only big leaguer to put the ball in play more than 90 percent of the time in 2023.
Arraez led the majors with a contact rate (CT) of .936 as of September 1. That put him 40 points ahead of the runner-up among all batters who had made at least 400 plate appearances by that date (Keibert Ruiz of the Washington Nationals with a CT of .896) and 191 points above the major-league CT of .745.
Arraez and Ruiz rank as the contact leaders in the National League. The two frontrunners in the American League both play for the Cleveland Guardians: Steven Kwan at .885 and Jose Ramirez at .884.
CT is an easy stat to calculate. We begin by determining the number of balls that a batter has put in play, subtracting his strikeouts from his at-bats. Then we divide the resulting number by his total at-bats.
Arraez, for example, had only 32 SO among his 501 AB as of September 1. That means he had put 469 balls in play (the result of 501 minus 32). His CT was 469 divided by 501, equaling .936.
Another way to measure contact is to compare a batter’s strikeout total against the number of times a typical batter would have struck out under the same circumstances. The result is known as the batter’s strikeout value (SOV).
The average big-league hitter struck out in 25.5 percent of his at-bats during the first five months of the 2023 season. If Arraez had matched that pace, he would have piled up 128 strikeouts by September 1. His actual SO total, as noted above, was just 32, thereby giving him an SOV of minus-96, the best in the majors. (The ideal SOV, of course, is a negative number, since it indicates fewer strikeouts than average.)
Kwan (minus-74) was the American League SOV leader as of the same date. Look below to see the best batters in both leagues for CT and SOV.
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American League batting CT leaders
1. Steven Kwan, Guardians, CT .885
2. Jose Ramirez, Guardians, CT .884
3. Masataka Yoshida, Red Sox, CT .866
4. Mauricio Dubon, Astros, CT .855
5. Kyle Tucker, Astros, CT .848
5. Alex Bregman, Astros, CT .848
7. Wander Franco, Rays, CT .844
8. Gleyber Torres, Yankees, CT .841
8. Marcus Semien, Rangers, CT .841
10. Andrew Benintendi, White Sox, CT .840
National League batting CT leaders
1. Luis Arraez, Marlins, CT .936
2. Keibert Ruiz, Nationals, CT .896
3. Jeff McNeil, Mets, CT .883
4. Luis Garcia, Nationals, CT .865
5. Ronald Acuna Jr., Braves, CT .864
6. Nico Hoerner, Cubs, CT .856
7. Bryson Stott, Phillies, CT .838
8. Cody Bellinger, Cubs, CT .830
8. Alec Bohm, Phillies, CT .830
10. Tommy Edman, Cardinals, CT .825
American League batting SOV leaders
1. Steven Kwan, Guardians, SOV -74
2. Jose Ramirez, Guardians, SOV -69
3. Masataka Yoshida, Red Sox, SOV -55
4. Alex Bregman, Astros, SOV -53
4. Marcus Semien, Rangers, SOV -53
6. Kyle Tucker, Astros, SOV -49
7. Gleyber Torres, Yankees, SOV -48
8. Tony Kemp, Athletics, SOV -46
9. Andrew Benintendi, White Sox, SOV -45
9. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays, SOV -45
National League batting SOV leaders
1. Luis Arraez, Marlins, SOV -96
2. Jeff McNeil, Mets, SOV -68
3. Keibert Ruiz, Nationals, SOV -64
3. Ronald Acuna Jr., Braves, SOV -64
5. Nico Hoerner, Cubs, SOV -57
6. Luis Garcia, Nationals, SOV -45
6. Bryson Stott, Phillies, SOV -45
8. Ildemaro Vargas, Nationals, SOV -39
9. Alec Bohm, Phillies, SOV -38
10. Miguel Rojas, Dodgers, SOV -37
10. Mookie Betts, Dodgers, SOV -37
10. Freddie Freeman, Dodgers, SOV -37