The Thread with a Looming Expiry Date: Luis Arraez Aims for .400

luis arraez feels to me like nu-bill madlock, which is hardly a dis, he was very close to being in the hall of very good.

Interesting...I tend to group Madlock/Buckner/Al Oliver together; they were like the second-tier high-average hitters in the '70s, after Carew. Arraez isn't Rod Carew, so that be a reasonable comparison.

"might be"

Peak Madlock (1974-83): .316, 129 OPS+
Peak Buckner (1972-82): .300, 106 OPS+
Peak Oliver (1972-83): .322, 127 OPS+

I've just shown Bill Buckner the door...the other two, very good comps.

Last one. Fewer walks, more HR, briefer peak, and more children scattered here and there, but also not bad (and a tough hitting environment):

Peak Garvey (1973-80): .311, 129 OPS+

the Yoshida example is instructive. If he worked on improving launch angle and lifting the ball, his average would probably go down but he also wouldn't hit into so many got-danged double plays

According to his coaches in Japan when he starts hitting grounders more then it means he’s tired. He’s supposedly working on stamina this year for the long season.

btw he’s hit over 20 home runs several times in Japan, really think it’s being gassed to blame

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=yoshid002mas

Going to the Pad's apparently!

The return, per source: Dillon Head, Woo Suk-Goo, Jakob Marsee, Nathan Martorella. On it: @CraigMish https://t.co/VnxhAkLdyT

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 4, 2024

does this make the marlins the first to (understandably) throw in the towel on the season?

I think the A’s threw in the towel before the season started

Since the start of the season? Sure. Kinda wild to go from making the post-season to giving up at the start of May the following year

Can't seem to google an answer, but my guess is he could be the first guy ever to win batting titles with three different teams--lots of time.

Probably even be difficult to find someone with a .320+ lifetime average about to play for his third team before he's 30.

.320 is a pretty high bar tbf

Only thing similar i can think of is that Soto could lead the league in BB for three different teams if he keeps it up this year. And he’s only 25!

Same basic point for both guys: even in the FA era, when you're that good, a third team this early in your career is (I think) relatively rare, or at least for non-pitchers.

“The guy is probably the closest to Tony Gwynn that there is right now, so I’m looking forward to seeing him in the lineup. Only seven batting titles away [from passing Tony Gwynn],” Tatis said with a laugh. “That why I said the closest.”

3-3 with a double!

Answer to question I posed above: no, no one's ever won batting titles with three different teams.

https://www.mlb.com/news/luis-arraez-can-win-batting-title-with-third-team-in-2024

Didn't realize Bill Madlock won four batting titles--most by anyone not in the HOF. I'm trying to remember if he was thought of as a good-bet HOF'er back in '83, after he won his fourth. Where he stood going into his age-33 season: 1,557 hits, .317/.378/.459, OPS+ of 130, 34.3 WAR, one World Series title ('79 Pirates), MVP votes in seven seasons, and the four batting titles. I don't think he was...I know one place to check when I get home.

i remember Madlock as a kid because he was the first example i saw of a guy who was simply a professional *hitter*, in the respect that he didn't have much else to his game beyond that. i don't recall him being a guy anyone talked about as a legend beyond his batting titles, and i think once Boggs and Gwynn came up with their more well-rounded game and won numerous titles between them, he was kind of forgotten. i suppose maybe he's kind of a little bit Michael Young, a little bit Mark Grace, a really excellent player that no one seriously considered an all-timer but an of-his-timer.

I was interested because batting titles were a bigger thing in the '70s and into the '80s, but you're right, Boggs and Gwynn (and later Ichiro) brought much better overall games (although, as I said on another thread, Madlock was a much better hitter than the superficially similar Bill Buckner). I wanted to check what James had to say while Madlock was still active, and he wasn't much of a fan--had him ranked 48th among third baseman in the revised Historical Abstract. "I never saw any other player who was as focused on batting championships as Bill Madlock." (Rose?) Wasn't meant as a compliment.

To be honest, I liked him better on the mariners

*marlins damnit lol

.419 as a Padre, up to .341 for the season (16 hits in last 6 games).

Can't remember where I read this - here? - that Arraez has one of the slowest bat speeds in the majors

Yeah but his swing is also one of the shortest

https://www.mlb.com/news/luis-arraez-bat-tracking-breakdown

xp

Posnanski's whole column the other day was about this...The most beautiful compact swing I've ever seen was Paul Moitor's.

He still doesn't score many runs--31 in 226 PA this year--and he'll never be a great player as measured by WAR: doesn't walk enough, so-so fielder (it looks like), doesn't steal much, only 43 XBH/162 games. I just think he's a fun throwback and seemingly a wizard in terms of bat control. It's like he's somewhere between Bill Madlock and Tony Gwynn.

Or like Willians Astudillo, but good.