It was in 1941 that Ted Williams hit a batting average of 40%. Since then, for 81 years until last year, numerous top hitters tried to hit 40%, but each time they sat down at the threshold.
Not only in the major leagues, but also in the KBO and NPB, 40% is considered an impregnable record that can never be surpassed.
However, there is a batter who threw a challenge to the .400 batting average this season. This is Luis Araez (26), a right-handed and left-handed second baseman from Venezuela.
He made his major league debut with the Minnesota Twins in 2019 and won the AL batting title last year with a .316 batting average. And he moved to Miami earlier this year. At the time, Miami sent two minor league fielders and left-hander ace Pablo Lopez to Minnesota. Since Araez is showing a sharper blow after the transfer, Miami has made a successful trade.
Araez raised his batting average to 0.403 (87 hits in 216 at bats) with 2 hits in 4 at-bats in a home game against the Kansas City Royals held at Londippo Park in Miami on the 8th (Korean time). Araez, who returned to the 40% batting average 28 days after May 10 with 2 hits in 4 at-bats against Kansas City held at the same place the previous day, maintained the 40% level for the second day.
In the match against the Oakland Athletics on the last 4th, he went 5-for-5 and jumped from 0.374 to 0.390, which is gaining momentum. To this day, he had 5 consecutive games and 27 multi-hit games all season. Araez ranks first in both leagues in batting average and on-base percentage (0.452).
Araez, who also played as a leadoff that day, retreated with a ground ball to the second baseman in the first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning, then went to base with a left-handed hit in the second at-bat with one out and first base in the third inning and hit home with Jesus Sanchez’s three-run homer. In the 5th inning with a lead of 3-1, he again hit a ground ball to the second baseman, and in the 8th inning, he hit a left-handed hit from first base without an out and went on base and stepped home when Brian Cruz doubled.
A perfect hit with 2 hits and 2 runs in 4 at-bats. On this day, too, he did not strike out. He recorded 11 strikeouts in 239 plate appearances this year. The strikeout rate is 4.6%, which is also unrivaled among batters who have exceeded the total number of at-bats. Second-ranked Washington Nationals catcher Kybert Ruiz (7.7 percent) struck out 16 times in 209 at-bats.
With such a strikeout rate, he deserves to be called a ‘master of hitting’ as well as Tony Gwynn, who is synonymous with sophistication. Gwynne, who played an active role as a sign for the San Diego Padres in the 1980s and 1990s, had a career strikeout rate of 4.2%. When he batted .368 in 1995, he struck out just 15 batters in 577 plate appearances. His strikeout rate was 2.6%.
However, since Ted Williams, the hitter who came closest to 40% was Gwynn. Gwynn, who hit 0.394 in 1994, was expected to hit 40% someday, but in the end, he could not cross the 40% threshold and took off his uniform at the end of 2001. Gwynn’s career batting average is .328, and he has posted .370 or better three times.
Until this day,스포츠토토 Miami has played 63 games. The highest batting average at the point of 63 games played in terms of team games is 0.435 by Andres Galaraga of the Colorado Rockies in 1993. In 2008, Atlanta Braves Chipper Jones had the second-highest batting average of 0.420 at the same time, and Araez’s batting average on that day was 7th all-time. In 1941, Williams marked .412 in the team’s 63 games.
The player who kept the .400 batting average at the latest after Williams’ .400 was Kansas City’s George Brett in 1980. He marked 40% until the 134th game that year. In 1993, John Olerud of the Toronto Blue Jays maintained a batting average of .400 through 107 games. Gwynn was also hitting .400 in 92 games in 1997. In 2000, Noma Garciaparra of the Boston Red Sox had a batting average of 40% through 91 games.