He leads the Majors in batting common ... regardless that he not often hits the ball arduous. He leads the National League in OPS ... regardless that he much more not often barrels the ball. Arraez is an elite hitter with out doing two of the elemental issues hitters need to do to achieve success: make arduous contact, and drive the ball within the air.

Arraez, recent off his first profession batting title, has a .511 batting common in 2023. He additionally has a 25.6% hard-hit fee -- solely 11 of his 43 batted balls have been hit 95 mph or more durable, Statcast's threshold for arduous contact. He has a success in over half of his at-bats, regardless that underneath 1 / 4 of these at-bats have ended with a hard-hit ball.

Arraez has a 1.268 OPS. He's additionally barreled the ball precisely as soon as this season -- which suggests hitting the ball with the right exit velocity and launch angle to get an extra-base hit or residence run. That did not cease Arraez from getting each single kind of extra-base hit in the identical recreation when he hit for the primary cycle in Marlins historical past this week.

And this is perhaps the craziest factor of all: Arraez has posted that .511 batting common and 1.268 OPS this season with a most exit velocity of 99.5 mph. Yes, one of many best hitters in Major League Baseball in 2023 has not hit one single baseball 100 mph.

Two hundred and forty-six hitters on Statcast's exit velocity leaderboard hit the ball arduous extra usually than Arraez. Two hundred and fourteen huge league hitters have multiple barrel. Three hundred and ninety-four have hit a ball 100-plus mph a minimum of as soon as. Nearly all of them are lesser hitters than Arraez, and few have feats like a batting title or cycle to their title.

So how does he do it? How is Arraez such an important pure hitter with out the arduous contact to match the numbers on his stat sheet? Here are three causes.

1) He sprays the ball everywhere in the discipline

Arraez is a real all-fields hitter, and that's considered one of his most dear abilities. 

The extra of the sector the protection has to cowl in opposition to a hitter, the more durable it's to remove outs. And Arraez makes opposing groups cowl the whole lot.

Arraez has one of the vital symmetrical spray charts of any MLB hitter this season. He's pulled 15 of his batted balls; he is hit 14 balls to straightaway middle; and he is hit 14 balls to the alternative discipline.

Very few hitters unfold the ball round every third of the sector like that. Arraez is within the firm of gamers like Paul Goldschmidt, J.D. Martinez, Manny Machado and Randy Arozarena.

2) He does not give away outs

Arraez's all-fields strategy is a technique he places stress on opposing groups. Another method: He does not give them any free outs.

The first a part of that's, he does not strike out. Arraez has simply 4 K's in 53 plate appearances this season, a 7.5% strikeout fee that is the third-lowest within the Majors.

Lowest strikeout fee, 2023

But the opposite half is simply as vital: Arraez does not hit into simple outs, both.

He hasn't popped up as soon as this season. Popups are automated outs -- they may as properly be strikeouts. Zero popouts plus solely 4 strikeouts means the protection nearly all the time has to make a play on Arraez to get him out. The pitcher not often beats him, and he does not beat himself.

Arraez finds the launch-angle candy spot on almost half of his contact -- meaning he is hitting the ball with a launch angle between eight and 32 levels, masking the most efficient vary of line drives and fly balls. Arraez's 46.5% sweet-spot fee is among the many highest within the Majors.

3) He handles each pitch kind

No matter what you throw at Arraez, he can hit it. He's simply as productive in opposition to fastballs as he's in opposition to breaking balls or offspeed pitches.

Look at his 2023 numbers in opposition to totally different pitch varieties:

vs. fastballs: .484 AVG / .742 SLGvs. breaking: .500 AVG / .625 SLGvs. offspeed: .625 AVG / .625 SLG

He does his harm when he will get a hittable fastball, and he merely smacks base hits off secondary pitches. Plus, he not often swings and misses regardless of which pitch he sees.

All of this makes Arraez the kind of hitter who should frustrate pitchers to no finish. He makes it as arduous as doable to get him out, and he does not want Aaron Judge's exit velocity to do it.

Content Source: www.mlb.com