Luis Arraez is suddenly right in the middle of something no player in MLB history has ever done.
The Phillies’ deadline pickup has put himself in position to win a fourth batting title with a fourth different team, a feat that would make him the first in league history to do it across four franchises, according to SleeperMLB on X. Arraez has already claimed three batting crowns - in 2022, 2023 and 2024 with the Minnesota Twins, Miami Marlins and San Diego Padres - and now he’s leading the majors again.
Entering play on Aug. 25, Arraez owns the best batting average in baseball at .321.
Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros is next at .320 while leading the American League in the chase for the Triple Crown. In the National League, Nick Gonzales of the Pittsburgh Pirates sits second at .308, which leaves Arraez with a 13-point cushion as the calendar nears September.
That’s a strong place to be, especially considering how rocky his start in Philadelphia was. Arraez opened his Phillies tenure with an 0-for-17 stretch, but he’s looked far more like himself lately. Since breaking out of that slump, he has hit safely in 10 straight games that he started, with his only hitless appearance coming on Aug. 23 when he pinch-hit for Bryson Stott in the eighth inning.
The numbers over that run are loud. Philadelphia has gone 9-2, and Arraez has gone 17-for-42 with a .405 average, three doubles and a home run. He’s struck out only once and has drawn one walk, which is exactly the kind of contact-heavy profile the Phillies wanted when they made the move.
Arraez’s arrival wasn’t the kind of deadline splash the Phillies were initially hunting. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was looking for a right-handed-hitting outfielder, not a left-handed-hitting infielder. But Arraez brought a different need to the table: putting the ball in play and getting on base for a team that was sitting near the bottom of baseball in on-base percentage.
That skill set has started to show up in a big way. His batting average with the Phillies is now .308, a clear climb from the .324 he had with the Giants after working through one of the worst slumps of his career at the plate.
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