Luis Arraez proves the worth of contact, even on this free-swinging period of big-league baseball.
Arraez, the second baseman for the Miami Marlins, posted the very best batting common within the majors final yr, .354, successful the Nationwide League’s hitting crown. He earned the American League’s title the earlier yr as a member of the Minnesota Twins, hitting .316.
So what’s his secret?
It’s easy, actually. He places the bat on the ball.
Arraez additionally led the majors final yr with a contact charge (CT) of .941. CT is the proportion of at-bats during which the hitter put the ball in play. A CT of .941, in different phrases, signifies that the batter struck out solely 5.9 % of the time.
Beneath is my all-contact staff for 2023, exhibiting the participant with the very best CT at every place. (The rankings had been restricted to batters who made not less than 300 plate appearances.)
It’s price noting that the 9 members of the all-contact staff had a collective batting common of .287 final yr. Everyone else within the majors mixed for a BA of .247. Level made.
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C — Keibert Ruiz, Nationals, CT .889
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1B — Yuli Gurriel, Marlins, CT .852
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2B — Luis Arraez, Marlins, CT .941
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SS — Miguel Rojas, Dodgers, CT .875
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3B — Jose Ramirez, Guardians, CT .881
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LF — Tony Kemp, Athletics, CT .889
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CF — Cody Bellinger, Cubs, CT .826
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RF — Ronald Acuna Jr., Braves, CT .869
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DH — Charlie Blackmon, Rockies, CT .847
Let’s say you run an organization. You resolve to maneuver your headquarters to a brand new metropolis. Do you shut the previous workplace earlier than discovering a brand new one?
In fact not. That might be silly.
But it surely’s what proprietor John Fisher and the Oakland Athletics did.
The A’s have already gotten Main League Baseball’s approval to maneuver to Las Vegas in 2028. However — oops! — their lease on the Oakland Coliseum expires on the finish of this season. So Fisher not too long ago introduced that his staff will play in a minor-league park in Sacramento for 3 seasons as a stopgap.
It’s a ridiculous transfer for a number of causes: (1) It escalates the A’s rinky-dink operation to an completely new magnitude of rinky-dinkiness. (2) It ensures that the diamond at Sutter Well being Park will probably be ravaged by overuse, since Sacramento’s minor-league staff reportedly will proceed to play there with the A’s as co-tenants. (3) It deprives Sacramento of any emotional connection to the majors, since its new (and non permanent) staff will probably be recognized solely as The Athletics, with no metropolis identify hooked up — as if it’s some sort of barnstorming softball squad.
All myths apart, Oakland has by no means supported the Athletics very properly. I made the case final yr that it was long gone time to maneuver the staff out of the Bay Space. However, on the very least, MLB ought to have insisted that grown-ups be put in command of the relocation.
Barry Bonds is so carefully related to the San Francisco Giants that his years in Pittsburgh are simply forgotten.
However Bonds did certainly launch his big-league profession with the Pirates, enjoying heart and left discipline between 1986 and 1992. He received three Gold Gloves and two Nationwide League Most Beneficial Participant Awards earlier than slipping out of city as a free agent.
Everyone knows what occurred at Bonds’s subsequent cease on the West Coast.
We additionally know what occurred to the Pirates. They reached the Nationwide League Championship Collection in every of Bonds’s ultimate three seasons — falling wanting the World Collection all 3 times — after which they collapsed after he left.
Pittsburgh loved solely 4 seasons above .500 after 1992 (in 2013-2015 and 2018), as signified by gold dots within the following graph of successful percentages. That’s why this yr’s quick begin by the Pirates — successful six of seven video games of their first two collection — has the membership’s fan base so excited. Will 2024 be the yr that lastly brings successful baseball again to PNC Park?
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Baseball tinkered with its guidelines final yr — widening the bases, limiting pitchers’ throws to first — in an effort to encourage thievery.
The alterations labored. Large-league runners amassed a complete of three,503 stolen bases final yr, up 41 % from 2,486 in 2022.
As we speak’s quiz harkens again to a number of the nice base stealers of the previous. Look to the underside of this article for the solutions.
1. Who’s baseball’s all-time stolen-base king?
2. Who was the primary participant within the twentieth century to steal greater than 100 bases in a single season?
3. Who was the final participant to pile up greater than 100 steals in a given yr?
4. Who’s the profession chief in stolen bases amongst gamers who’re presently energetic within the majors?
5. Which membership topped the majors in steals in 2023?
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A. Arizona Diamondbacks
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B. Cincinnati Reds
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C. Kansas Metropolis Royals
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D. Washington Nationals
Practically three years have handed since Miguel Cabrera lofted the five hundredth dwelling run of his profession on August 22, 2021. He was the twenty eighth batter to hitch the unique 500 membership, and he’ll most likely be the final for fairly awhile.
Giancarlo Stanton is the one energetic participant with greater than 400 homers, and he nonetheless sat 97 wanting 500 after the primary week of the present season. Needless to say Stanton hit a complete of 90 homers previously three seasons mixed, and you may see that he’s removed from a lock to succeed in the magic quantity.
Ten energetic gamers had profession totals of greater than 300 dwelling runs early within the 2024 season. Listed below are their counts (together with their present ages in parentheses), in line with Baseball Reference:
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1. Giancarlo Stanton (age 34), HR 403
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2. Mike Trout (age 32), HR 371
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3. Joey Votto (age 40), HR 356
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4. Paul Goldschmidt (age 36), HR 341
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5. Nolan Arenado (age 32), HR 325
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6. Freddie Freeman (age 34), HR 322
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7. Manny Machado (age 31), HR 315
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7. J.D. Martinez (age 36), HR 315
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9. Bryce Harper (age 31), HR 309
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10. Carlos Santana (age 38), HR 301
The 1984 Detroit Tigers — the staff that I charge as the easiest of the Fashionable Period (1961 to the current) — got here roaring out of the gate. They received their first 5 video games in ’84, sweeping their opening collection with the Twins and the White Sox.
The undoubted spotlight of the primary week was an April 7 no-hitter by future Corridor of Famer Jack Morris. It was removed from an ideal recreation — six Chicago batters drew walks — however Morris by no means appeared to lose his confidence.
Hecklers at Comiskey Park tried to rattle the Detroit pitcher as he strolled to the mound for the ninth inning. They yelled that he would by no means get the ultimate three outs with out permitting successful. Morris circled. “Simply watch,” he mentioned.
The Tigers held a one-and-a-half recreation lead within the American League East on the morning of April 9, 1984.
The 1962 New York Mets — the staff that suffered probably the most defeats within the Fashionable Period — had been nonetheless ready and questioning as of April 9. The opening of the franchise’s inaugural season was slated for April 11 in St. Louis.
Casey Stengel, the 71-year-old supervisor of the Mets, had beforehand guided the New York Yankees to 10 American League pennants and 7 World Collection titles between 1949 and 1960, tremendously aided by a robust lineup led by Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.
Stengel dreamed about including related firepower to the Mets’ anemic batting order. “In fact, Mantle and Maris would assist my managerial capacity,” he joked.
1-C. (Henderson was the one large leaguer to succeed in 1,000 steals. He completed with 1,406 in 25 seasons from 1979 to 2003.)
2-D. (Wills stole 104 bases with the Dodgers in 1962.)
3-B. (Coleman had 109 stolen bases for the Cardinals in 1987.)
4-B. (Marte’s profession complete stood at 338 on the finish of the 2023 season.)
5-B. (The Reds collectively stole 190 bases final yr to steer the majors.)
