Miami Marlins’ Luis Arajuez, 26, is a shoo-in for the second-best batting title, barring any upsets.
He hit .383 in the first half of the season and maintains a large lead over second-place Ronald Acuna Jr. (Atlanta Braves) at .331.안전놀이터
Araújo, who won the American League batting title last year, is the best contact hitter in the game. Contact hitters have a knack for literally hitting the ball in the air and striking out less. This is the opposite of a power hitter who is looking for home runs.
In 329 at-bats, Arajuez has only 19 strikeouts. That’s one strikeout every 17.3 at-bats. San Diego Padres’ Ha Sung Kim has 73 strikeouts in 275 at-bats. That’s one every 3.76 at-bats.
Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies has the most strikeouts by a player with a full plate appearance. Schwarber, who has 22 home runs, has 117 strikeouts. That’s one per 2.83 at-bats. His batting average is just .184. He’s the quintessential all-or-nothing hitter.
The best contact hitter in major league history is the legendary Tony Gwynn (late). An eight-time National League batting champion, Gwynn was known as a “hitting machine”. He struck out three times in a game only once in his career. Shin-Soo Choo, Ji-Man Choi, Ha-Sung Kim, and other overseas players can count on one hand the number of times they struck out in a game.
Japan’s best contact hitter is Ichiro Suzuki. He was a two-time American League batting champion and drove in a season-high 262 runs in 2004. He finished his career with 3089 hits. Ichiro has a strikeout rate of one per 9.19 at-bats. That’s pretty low considering today’s hitters.
But there’s a big difference when compared to Hall of Famer Gwynn, who also reached 3,000 hits. As a contact hitter, Gwynn is far superior. In his 20-year MLB career, Gwynn struck out just 434 times in 9288 at-bats. That’s about one every 21.4 at-bats.
Gwynn’s greatness doesn’t stop there. He faced Hall of Fame pitchers Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, and Tom Glavine 323 times, with only three strikeouts against them.
These three legends have 9132 career strikeouts. Apart from Glavine (2607), Maddux (3371) and Martinez (3154) have reached the 3,000 strikeout mark.
Gwynn was so good at making contact that he once used one bat in a season. If he misses, the bat breaks.
As Mr Padres, Gwynn is also a hometown hero, having attended San Diego State and played exclusively in San Diego. It’s a shame he died too young at 54 from oral cancer caused by chewing tobacco.