Luis Arráez reaches 200 hits, but is still chasing more

MIAMI -- In 2022, Luis Arraez won the American League batting title with a .316 batting average. One year later, while in the National League, his batting average is currently .351. Although he stands at the top of not only the National League but all of Major League Baseball, there are a couple of players who aren't too far behind and could get in the way of Arraez making history.

In the month of August, Arraez put up his worst numbers of the season, slashing .236/.243/.336/.579. A lot of it can be attributed to Arraez using a different approach at the plate where he would try to lift the ball more to see if he can generate some power, but that isn't who Arraez is. He is a professional hitter who can get on base by slashing line drives all over and drive runs in.

"I am human," said Arráez a couple of weeks back. "I just didn't have luck in the month of August. I would just hit the ball and it would go right in front of the position players. Just the day before, I hit three straight line drives and I didn't have any luck."

Throughout the month of September, Arráez is slashing .387/.415/.677/1.092 with five home runs and 11 RBI. Not only is Arráez still attempting to hit for more power, as he now has 10 home runs on the year, but he is still looking to get on base at a high clip and drive runners in with his signature slap hits.

In game one of the three game set against the New York Mets, Arráez reached the 200 hit plateau for the first time in his career. On the Marlins history side of things, Arráez became the fourth Marlin to reach the 200 hit plateau, but this is the sixth time that a Marlins player has reached it. Hanley Ramirez did it once in 2007, while Dee Strange-Gordon and Juan Pierre each did it twice.

Additionally, if Arráez wins the National League batting title, he would become the third Marlins player ever to win the award and would hold the highest single-season batting average in franchise history (Hanley Ramirez previously held that honor with a .342 BA in 2009.)

History?

If Arráez is able to hold on to the lead he currently has, he will become the first player in MLB history to win the batting title in back-to-back years in a different league. The only player to win the batting title in two different leagues was New York Yankees infielder DJ LeMahiu. He won the National League batting title in 2016 as a member of the Colorado Rockies and then the American League title in 2020 as a member of the New York Yankees.

"Yeah, look. Since the beginning of the season they had already told me about it," said Arráez when I spoke to him about the possibility. "I have great competitors behind me, and I think that they are great hitters."

If there is someone in the National League who can spoil his chance at history, it is NL MVP favorite Ronald Acuña Jr of the Atlanta Braves, who currently sits at a .337 batting average. Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is just behind Acuña at a .335 clip.

Freeman's month of August is what helped him out a lot. In August, he slashed .374/.434/.617/1.051, easily his best month of the 2023 season.

"Great guy," said Arráez when asked about Freeman. "One my favorite baseball players. Not just as a player, but as a hitter. I think that Freddie is an amazing guy and that he deserves a lot of respect. I always follow him, he is a great player and no, I cannot get confident, because if I get confident, I know that in three days he can have five hits and he can pass me."

Ronald Acuña Jr. is ahead of Freeman in the batting race, and he is chasing some history of his own: A 40/70 (!) season. This is a feat that has never been achieved in baseball history. Unfortunately for Acuña, he went down in Game One of a three-game set in Miami with right calf tightness. Luckily, it looks like he will be able to avoid the IL.