San Diego Padres All-Star infielder Luis Arraez is looking for his fourth consecutive batting title, a feat which has not been achieved since lifetime Padre and Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn did it from 1994-97.
The utility man has won three batting titles with three different teams, and is the first player in MLB history to do so. He played with the Minnesota Twins and Miami Marlins before coming to San Diego.
Arraez would become the seventh player to lead his league in batting average for four straight years, joining a start studded list which includes Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Rod Carew, Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner.
Arraez currently sits 16th in the National League's batting average rankings with a .289 mark, mostly due to a 2-for-23 stretch to begin the season. Fellow Padre Manny Machado leads the NL with an average of .324.
Despite the Arraez's sub-.300 mark, his elite hitting profile and previous seasons are more than reason to believe he will be able to rise in the rankings soon. Arraez has only finished one season with a batting average below .300, all the way back with the Twins in 2021 with .294. His strikeout percentage of 2% leads MLB, as does his whiff percentage of 3.8%.
"If Arraez is to win a fourth straight batting crown, he'll have to fully overcome that slow start," said MLB.com writer Jason Foster. "To do that, he'll need to pile up multi-hit games. But that shouldn't be a problem. Since 2022, Arraez leads all players with 178 multi-hit games entering Monday. He's had 12 so far this season in 33 games. For comparison, he also had 12 through his first 33 games last season. He finished with an MLB-best 62."
Arraez has four multi-hit games through nine games played in May.
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