Luis Arraez begins the second half with a league leading .382 batting average. For comparison, NL and AL MVP frontrunners Ronald Acuna and Shohei Ohtani have .332 and .303 batting averages, respectively.
Yes, that’s right. In a year where Arraez has a chance to make history for the first time in 82 years, he might not even win the NL MVP. Arraez also leads the league with a .433 OBP.
Fittingly, the Miami second baseman went 2-2 in the All-Star game with an RBI. He saw just two pitches.
Arraez would be the first player to eclipse .400 since Ted Williams did it in 1941 when he hit .406.
In his memorable 1941 season, Williams played just 143 games, while Arraez is on pace to play 178. Additionally, in a day and age when seasons are 182 games long as opposed to 153 in the Ted Williams era, Arraez’s quest for .400 will be arduous at best.
In fact, it took a double-header and an improbable 6-8 performance at the plate on the final day of the season for the great Ted Williams to surpass .400 in 1941.
Williams’ average was .3995 going into that double-header.
Arraez and the Marlins (53-42), co-led by 2022 NL Cy Young award winner Sandy Alcantara and 2023 All-Star Jorge Soler, sit in 2nd place in a contentious NL East behind the league leading Atlanta Braves (61-31) and ahead of the defending NL Champs, the Philadelphia Phillies (50-42).
Unfortunately, the Marlins will be without center fielder Jazz Chisholm for at least a month. If they hope to remain in the playoff picture come October, Arraez may have no choice but to break .400 to keep the sinking Marlins (and all of Florida for that matter) afloat until Jazz comes back.