Hitting .400 over a full MLB season is not only hard to achieve these days: you could argue that it’s nearly impossible.
Some Hall of Famers have done it, but all of them played in the first half of the 20th century.
Baseball was just different back then: there wasn’t the focus on strikeouts there is now, and pitchers didn’t even approach 100 mph.
The last man to hit .400 was Ted Williams in 1941, when he had a .406 batting average.
Miami Marlins infielder Luis Arraez is very much chasing history.
Yes, the season is just two months and a week old.
Yes, it’s probably unrealistic to expect him to finish the 2023 campaign with a batting average of at least .400.
But he’s awfully close to that mark right now with his .399 average.
Luis Arráez is batting .399 on the year 🔥👀 pic.twitter.com/r3KzbAgYQL
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 6, 2023
Could it be possible?
No one knows for sure, but the odds are definitely against him.
Regardless of whether he reaches the mark or not, we should take a moment to admire what he is doing.
He is managing to post a cool .945 OPS while hitting just one home run this season.
Watching his contact ability and barrel control is a thing of beauty.
He has struck out in just 4.8 percent of his plate appearances, an incredibly low mark.
In his own way and with his own style, he has been the hitter that the Marlins thought they were acquiring when they traded Pablo Lopez to the Minnesota Twins for him.
The Marlins offense remains flawed, but that’s in no way Arraez’s fault.
NEXT: Luis Arraez Is Chasing A Legend In MLB History
