The last time Ted Williams hit a four-for was in 1941. In the 81 years since then, many great hitters have attempted the feat, only to fall short.
Not only in the major leagues, but also in the KBO and NPB, 4% is considered an impregnable mark that can never be broken.
However, there is a batter who has challenged the 4% mark this season. Luis Araez, 26, is a right-handed, left-handed second baseman from Venezuela.메이저사이트
He made his major league debut with the Minnesota Twins in 2019 and won the AL batting title last year with a .316 average. He was traded to Miami earlier this year. At the time, Miami sent two minor leaguers and left-handed ace Pablo Lopez to Minnesota. It was a successful trade for Miami, as Arajuez has been hitting even sharper since his arrival.
Araujo went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs to raise his batting average to .403 (216-for-87) in a home game against the Kansas City Royals at Marlins Park on 8 August. Arajuez, who went 2-for-4 against Kansas City at the same venue the day before, returned to the four-hit plateau for the second day in a row after a 28-day absence since May 10.
He’s gaining momentum after going 5-for-5 against the Oakland Athletics on May 4, raising his average from .374 to .390. It was his fifth straight multi-hit game and 27th of the season. Araez leads the league in both batting average and on-base percentage (.452).
Araujo, who also started in the leadoff spot, reached on a fielder’s choice in his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning and then doubled to left field in the top of the third inning, scoring Jesús Sánchez on a three-run homer. He grounded out to second again in the fifth for a 3-1 lead, then singled to left with one out in the eighth and came home on Brian Cruz’s double.
A perfect 4-for-4 day at the plate with two RBIs and two runs scored. He didn’t strike out on the day either. Eleven strikeouts in 239 at-bats this year. His 4.6 per cent strikeout rate also leads all hitters with full regulation at-bats. Second-place Washington Nationals catcher Keyvert Ruiz (7.7 per cent) has struck out 16 times in 209 at-bats.
With a strikeout rate like that, he deserves to be called a “master hitter” as much as Tony Gwynn, whose name is synonymous with precision. Gwynn, who starred for the San Diego Padres in the 1980s and 1990s, had a career strikeout rate of 4.2 per cent. In 1995, when he hit .368, he struck out just 15 times in 577 at-bats. That’s a 2.6 per cent strikeout rate.
But Gwynn is the closest hitter since Ted Williams to reaching the 4% mark. After hitting .394 in 1994, Gwynn was expected to hit .400 someday, but he never cracked the four-figure threshold and retired in 2001. Gwynn finished his career with a .328 average and hit over .370 three times.
Up to this point, Miami had played 63 games. The highest batting average by a team after 63 games is .435 by Andres Galarraga of the Colorado Rockies in 1993. Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves in 2008 had the second-highest batting average at the same point, at 0.420, and Araez’s batting average on that day is seventh all-time. In 1941, Williams was hitting .412 at the team’s 63-game mark.
The last player to bat in the four figures at a later point than Williams was Kansas City’s George Brett in 1980. He didn’t hit .400 until his 134th game that year. John O’Leary of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993 was the next to stay in the 4% range until 107 games. Gwynn was also at 4% until his 92nd game in 1997. In 2000, Norma Garciaparra of the Boston Red Sox batted in the quadrant through 91 games.