Luis Arraez (2021-2022)

 

Luis Arráez 🇻🇪 (2021-2022)

Luis Sangel Arráez (San Felipe, Venezuela, April 9, 1997), has been drawing attention with his amazing hitting ability, since his MLB debut in 2019, he has not stopped doing great things, leaving his mark at a young age with his style to dominate the game.

One of his greatest virtues is his plate discipline, with an incredible ability to read pitches. He can make solid contact both inside and outside the strike zone, with incredible speed, he can achieve the desired outcome with his hits. Very few players in the current times can be compared to Luis Arraez. Although he may not have the power of players like Aaron Judge or Mike Trout, he is an iconic player who never gives up easily. He is a headache for pitchers, and many would love to have him on their team.

Moreover, in several advanced statistics, he ranks at the top, with numbers that haven't been seen since 2015. It came as no surprise that he became the 2022 American League batting champion with the Twins, boasting an impressive .316 batting average. His perseverance and discipline have propelled him to the top of the MLB.

Despite making his debut in 2019, I focused on his last two seasons (2021-2022) to assess his consistency as a starter in the team and anticipate what is to come in the 2023 season.

If you have any questions regarding the types of pitches (Fastball, Changeup, etc.), here is all the necessary information

The data provided is from Baseball Savant

1- Hits

Overall stats for both seasons:

0.305 AVG

0.764 OPS

10 Home Runs and 91 RBI

 

During 2021 and 2022 seasons he faced 4388 pitches, with 10 different types of pitches, the most were Four-seam Fastball with 38.72%, followed by Sinker with 16.61%.

In the chart above, we can observe that the majority of his hits were achieved with Four-seam Fastball(42,14%).

He was able to make the most hits in the center zone, showcasing a strong presence within the strike zone, he also knows how to surprise on the outside, there were 66 hits connected outside the strike zone.

He received the highest number of pitches in the upper left corner (410 pitches), most of the throwed balls were Four-seam Fastball of which 10 hits were able to connect Arraez in that area.

In the Count chart, we can see in detail his favorite pitch to hit and in which count situation. He connected the most hits in a 0-0 count, with 17 hits.

Now, we will examine every hit he made during those two years (299 hits) to analyze the pitch type and the resulting outcome (1B, 2B, 3B, HR)

25% went to the left side of the field, 37% to the center and 38% to the right side.

126 hits with Four-seam Fastball, the pitch velocity was an average of 94 mph over the two seasons.

Arraez was only able to make contact 35 times out of 532 Changeup pitches, 9 hits from 278 Curveball pitches and 28 hits from 376 Cutter pitches. Just to name a few pitch types that make it difficult for him to get a hit. We will see more detail about this in the next section.

His hit location is well distributed around the field, an excellent domain for putting hits on the opposing side, what makes him an unpredictable hitter.

In 2022, with runners in scoring position (RISP), Luis Arraez was able to drive in 39 runs, with 34 hits and a batting average of .366. In 107 plate appearances with runners on base, he struck out only 6 times.

2- Plate Discipline

In the chart above, we can observe the Strike % per count and strikes by zone( for both charts i take into account the called strikes and swinging strikes).

Arraez struggles to get hits in the upper part of the strike zone, which makes sense for this chart since he received a significant number of strikes in that area, primarily Four-seam Fastball.

Arraez's strikeout percentage is remarkable, as he has only been struck out 91 times in 975 At bats, which means 9.3% in the two seasons. One of his qualities is that he rarely reaches a full count (3-2), which makes him a player who prefers to swing on early pitches(with an average of only 8,7% Base on Balls).

Now, the advanced stats to demonstrate why he is a good player at making contact, avoiding strikeouts, and overall reading pitches.

For the comparison of these stats, I considered players with at least 400 plate appearances in a season between 2015 and 2022. I used the Top 10 players, and the red line represents the average of all players who met the requirement of 400 PA.

His Strikeout % is the most remarkable of all, with the lowest average in 2022 of 7.1%, and the lowest number at least since Daniel Murphy in 2015.

He also have the Whiff % with 7.1% and Swing and Miss % with 5.6 %. The last two stats are very similar, but they still carry significant weight in defining the type of player Arraez is, which is quite rare in today's MLB. Additionally, he ranks among the top 10 players who possess these qualities.

In the chart above, we can see three advanced stats that define the type of hitter Arraez is. The first two evaluate the contact percentage inside and outside the strike zone, demonstrating his great ability to make contact anywhere.

The last stat shows the percentage of hits that were flares or burners, reflecting Arraez's calculated approach to place hits in the gaps or just out of reach of opposing players, it's worth noting that all the stats in which he is in the top 10 are above (or below) the MLB average.

Despite not being a power hitter or hitting many home runs, he still excels with his playing style and ranks among the highest.

3- Ending

If you've made it this far, you may have noticed that Luis Arraez is not a power hitter who generates many home runs and runs. However, this doesn't make him any less important as a player. It simply demonstrates the trade-offs of his playing style.

Looking at the downsides of Arraez, one of his issues (reflected in the chart below) is the low number of hits he has in the later innings, also, he struggles when batting with one or two outs.

Although it is not accurately reflected if there were players on base, it is reflected in his low number of RBIs. This is not solely his fault, but also a team issue in terms of putting players on base to create better opportunities.

The graph below displays the 299 hits made by Arraez distributed by outcome (1B, 2B, 3B, HR) and the outs when at bat. It reflects his strong ability to produce hits in the first at-bat, and his slight absence in the later innings.

Additionally, in these graphics below, you can see a radial graph displaying his results and the distance of his hits.

The next graph compare the power of Luis Arraez vs Aaron Judge to observe the difference in their batting styles.

The higher the exit angle, the more likely it indicates a home run(between 25 - 35 degrees).

I make this comparison to see the difference between both players. While one may excel in certain aspects over the other, overall, this comparison reflects Judge's immense power and Arraez's consistency in creating opportunities.

I hope you enjoyed my analysis, and feel free to check out Twitter(@yucaball) and Instagram for more graphics.