Batters with fast bat speed are known to hit well. This is because fast bat speed allows the ball to be seen for a long time.
However, Luis Arraez (27, San Diego Padres), who has not missed the top batting average in the league for the last three consecutive years, is rejecting common sense.
The Major League Baseball Servant revealed batter’s bat speed starting this season. Arraez confidently ranked first behind the bat. He is ranking last.
Arraez posted an average bat speed of 63.2 miles (about 101.7 kilometers). This is 18 miles (about 29 kilometers) apart from the 81.2 miles (about 130.7 kilometers) that ranked first.
Arraez is also one mile shorter than Nikki Lopez’s 64.2 mile. His bat speed is overwhelmingly last.
Still, Arraez had the highest contact rate of 46.1 percent. Arraez has struck out only 29 in 672 at-bats this season.
The secret can be found in small swings. Arraez’s swing width is found to be the smallest in the Major League. This explains why his contact rate is high despite his slow swing.
In other words, it can be interpreted that Araez focused only on contact through an extremely small and accurate swing. It can be seen that he judged that home runs were not his talents.
In fact, out of the 200 hits that Araez hit this season, only 39 were long balls. The figure is quite comparable to Shohei Ohtani, who has 99 out of 197 hits. 메이저놀이터
Of course, in terms of productivity, it is more appropriate to choose long balls rather than accurate hitting. However, hitting does not happen as the batter chooses.
Even if Araez chooses long hit instead of contact, she will not be able to display the same performance as Ohtani. Araez chose to focus on her performance.
Araez, who swung the slowest and smallest swing in the Major League, posted a batting average of .314 this season, blocking Ohtani’s three-time batting champion.
This is a reproduction of Aaron Judge’s three-time batting champion in two seasons after blocking him from winning three titles in 2022. It is becoming “batting rate management = Araez.”