Sunday, October 8, 2023

2023 MLB Season Quick Hits: Ronald Acuña Jr., Luis Arraez, Freddie Freeman, Trea Turner, and More

 

The 2023 baseball season witnessed several position players set records, earn distinctions, and accomplish feats.  Below are a few of the notable achievements realized during 2023.



Luis Arraez Becomes the First Player to Capture the AL and NL Batting Crowns in Consecutive Seasons
After leading the AL with a .316 batting average in 2022, Minnesota Twins second baseman Luis Arraez found himself suiting up for a different club for 2023, as he had been traded across leagues to the Miami Marlins on January 20 in exchange for pitcher Pablo López and a pair of minor league prospects.  Arraez quickly adapted to his new surroundings and feasted on opposing pitching, becoming one of the main stories for the early part of 2023 as he batted .438 in April and carried a .400-plus mark into parts of May and June.  Arraez’s batting average did not permanently fall under .400 until Miami’s 79th game of the year on June 25.  The last player to carry a .400 average that deep into the season was in 2000 when Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra sported a .400 figure for Boston’s 92nd game of the year on July 20.  Arraez’s blistering early-season pace included becoming the first player in the 31-year history of the Marlins franchise to hit for the cycle.  He accomplished this feat in just his twelfth game for the club on April 11.  Arraez checked into the All-Star break batting .383 and for the second season in a row earned a trip to the Midsummer Classic.  Although the latter half of the campaign saw his bat cool off by comparison, he managed to hold off all challengers and claim the NL batting crown with a .354 average.  By securing top batting honors, the 26-year-old joined Ed Delahanty and DJ LeMahieu as the only players to capture batting titles in both the AL and NL.  However, Arraez became the first to turn the trick in consecutive seasons.  What’s more, excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, Arraez’s .354 mark represented the highest MLB batting average since Josh Hamilton’s AL-pacing .359 figure from 2010.


Arraez’s impressive year helped Miami transform from a 93-loss 2022 club into winners of the second NL wild card.  In addition to becoming the first player in team history to hit for the cycle, Arraez also set a new single-season record for the Marlins franchise with his .354 batting average surpassing the previous benchmark of .342 achieved by Hanley Ramírez in 2009 when the club was known as the Florida Marlins.  Like Arraez, Ramírez paced the senior loop in average when he established his franchise-leading figure.


During an era of free-swinging sluggers, Arraez’s ability to avoid being the victim of the strikeout stood out among his peers.  With a MLB-low strikeout rate of just 5.5%, the Marlins keystoner struck out less than a quarter of the 22.7% MLB average.  Arraez not only produced the lowest strikeout rate in MLB but also checked in well ahead of New York Mets infielder Jeff McNeil who registered the next-lowest average of 10.0%.  Sacrificing power to focus on hitting for a high average, Arraez’s batting approach conjured up memories of skilled contact-hitters such as Rod Carew, Tony Gwynn, and Ichiro Suzuki who each earned multiple batting titles during their distinguished Hall of Fame careers.


Yandy Díaz Captures the AL Batting Crown
Over in the junior circuit, Tampa Bay first baseman Yandy Díaz outlasted Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager to secure the batting title.  Going into the final month of the campaign, it appeared Seager would claim top batting honors for the AL, standing at the front of the leaderboard with a .346 average while Díaz trailed behind with a .327 mark.  However, Seager slumped in September, batting .277 for the month as Díaz posted a .345 figure over the same span.  Thus, entering the final day of the regular season, the two sluggers each boasted .330 averages with Seager’s .3298 mark just a whisker ahead of Díaz’s .3295 figure.  Towards the end of September, the Rays first baseman was sidelined by hamstring tightness.  With Tampa Bay having already clinched a playoff berth, the team opted to rest Díaz who only stepped into the batter’s box four times during the last week of the campaign.  On the contrary, Seager’s Rangers found themselves still very much in the thick of a three-way battle for the AL West division title with the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners.  As a result, while the Rays had the luxury of sitting Díaz on the final day of the regular season to preserve him for the playoffs, Texas required the full services of their All-Star shortstop.  The Rangers entered Game 162 having already eliminated the Mariners from postseason contention with a 6-1 triumph over their division rival during the previous day.  The victory secured Texas one of the AL wild card seeds but the club could only capture the division crown with an additional win over the Mariners or an Astros’ loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on the final day of the regular season.  With the division title at stake, Seager suited up for Texas as Houston simultaneously faced Arizona.  Seattle’s pitching staff managed to keep Seager in check, holding the slugger hitless in four plate appearances while shutting down the Rangers offense and prevailing 1-0.  In contrast, the Astros pummeled the Diamondbacks 8-1 to claim the team’s sixth AL West flag in seven seasons.  Seager’s hitless-performance against the Mariners dropped him to a final mark of .327 as Díaz became the first player in the 26-year history of the Rays franchise to earn the AL batting title.


In addition to securing top batting honors, like Arraez in the NL, Díaz shattered his team’s single-season record for average as his .330 figure surpassed the previous benchmark of .320 set by shortstop Jason Bartlett in 2009.  Interestingly, when Bartlett etched his name atop Tampa Bay’s all-time leaderboard, his .320 average was only good enough for seventh-best on the 2009 AL rundown and well behind the league-pacing .365 figure of Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer.  While Arraez’s ability to avoid the strikeout stood out across baseball, Díaz himself did a respectable job at not being the victim of punch outs and whiffs as his 15.7% strikeout rate checked in comfortably below the 22.7% MLB average.


Eugenio Suárez and Teoscar Hernández Become the First Teammates to Strikeout 200 Times During the Same Season
While Luis Arraez did an exemplary job of avoiding strikeouts, a pair of Seattle Mariners sluggers, third baseman Eugenio Suárez and right fielder Teoscar Hernández, finished the campaign ranked number one and two in the dubious category for the AL.  With Suárez’s 214 and Hernández’s 211 strikeouts, the Mariners duo became the first pair of teammates to strikeout 200 times in the same season.  Standing atop the strikeout-leaderboard was not a new experience for Suárez who had previously paced the senior loop while playing for the Cincinnati Reds in 2019 and also led the junior circuit during his first year with the Mariners in 2022.


Oddly, by each striking out 200 times, the free-swinging pair of Suárez and Hernández reached a plateau that has yet to be achieved by two of the team’s pitchers during the same season.  Despite having hard-throwing hurlers such as Mark Langston, Randy Johnson, and Félix Hernández anchoring Seattle’s starting rotation at different points in the 47-year history of the franchise, the closest two Mariners pitchers have ever come to simultaneously reaching the plateau was in 1990 when Erik Hanson struck out 211 batters while the aforementioned Johnson narrowly missed the mark with 194.  The 2023 edition of the team featured one 200-strikeout pitcher in Luis Castillo, who amassed 219 for the campaign, and another just shy of the plateau as Logan Gilbert finished with 189.

Ronald Acuña Jr. Joins the 40/40 Club and Becomes the Charter Member of the 40/70 Club
The 2023 season witnessed a banner campaign from Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr.  Throughout the history of baseball, few players have combined power and speed in as dominant a form as Acuña.  Finally healthy after missing ample time during each of the previous two seasons, the 25-year-old slugger was truly at his best in 2023, hitting for both power and average while showcasing his speed on the basepaths.  A free-swinger in the past, for 2023, Acuña cut his strikeout rate by more than half from his career norm going into the campaign.  Blistering opposing pitching and dazzling fans with his electric style of play, Acuña put together a phenomenal effort, leading the NL in a slew of categories while also joining José Canseco, Barry Bonds, Álex Rodríguez, and Alfonso Soriano to become just the fifth player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season.  However, in Acuña’s case, he waged an assault on the basepaths like no prior member of the 40/40 club before him, easily pacing the senior circuit by swiping an astounding 73 bags.  With his lofty stolen base total and 41 home runs, the youngster became the first player to author a 40/70 campaign.

Critics of Acuña will point out that he benefitted from MLB rule changes for 2023 which saw the introduction of larger bases and limits on throws to first base as ways to increase base-stealing attempts.  Though speedy players such as Acuña undoubtedly benefitted from these rule changes, barring injury the Braves slugger’s admission to the 40/40 club was an inevitability as during his last fully-healthy season in 2019, he launched 41 home runs while stealing a league-leading 37 bases.  Prior to Acuña, the highest stolen base total for a 40/40 campaign was Álex Rodriguez’s 46 in 1998.  Also, before Acuña, no player had come remotely close to hitting 40 home runs while swiping 70 bags as Rickey Henderson’s 1986 combo of 28 round-trippers and 87 stolen bases represented the loftiest long ball mark during a 70-stolen base season.


Matt Olson Sets a New Single-Season Home Run Record for the Braves Franchise
In addition to Acuña, the Braves offense also featured a sterling effort from first baseman Matt Olson.  Acquired from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for four players on March 14, 2022, Olson faced the tall task of replacing Atlanta’s popular veteran first baseman Freddie Freeman who departed the club via free agency to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Olson put together a respectable 2022, though his performance was a step below his best showings in Oakland.  However, the 29-year-old’s bat came alive in 2023 as his prodigious power reached new heights, leading the NL with 54 home runs while also pacing the circuit with 139 RBI.  The premier long-ball hitter in a dynamic Braves lineup that featured an impressive collection of sluggers, Olson helped the Braves tie the MLB team record of 307 home runs set by the 2019 Minnesota Twins.  Atlanta’s round-tripper total established a NL team record, shattering the previous mark of 279 also achieved in 2019 by the Dodgers.  On an individual level, Olson’s 54 home runs set a new single-season benchmark for the franchise, topping Andruw Jones’ 51 long balls from 2005.  Additionally, because RBI did not become an official statistic until 1920, MLB recognizes Olson as setting a new RBI record for the club as well, surpassing the prior mark of 135 attained by Eddie Mathews in 1953.  Note: Baseball Reference recognizes unofficial RBI totals from before 1920 and credits Hugh Duffy’s 145 RBI from 1894 as the franchise record.



Freddie Freeman Nearly Reaches the 60 Doubles Plateau While Pacing the NL in the Catgeory for the Fourth Time in His Career
As Olson was consistently blasting four-baggers, the man he replaced as Braves first baseman, Freddie Freeman, put together his own sensational campaign for the Dodgers.  At age 33, Freeman showed no signs of slowing down, establishing personal-bests in multiple categories.  Despite turning in a terrific performance, the veteran only managed to top the NL in one major traditional category, as he headed the doubles leaderboard for the fourth time in his career.  Freeman stroked doubles at a maniac pace during 2023, particularly in May and August when he racked up a respective 17 and 16 two-base hits.  Thus, going into the final month of the campaign, the slugger already sat at 51 doubles—four more than his previous career-high—with a decent shot at becoming the first hitter since 1936 to finish the year with 60 two-baggers, as well as a slim chance to eclipse the single-season MLB record of 67 set by Boston Red Sox right fielder Earl Webb in 1931.  In the history of MLB, just six players—George Burns, Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, Joe Medwick, Paul Waner, and the aforementioned Webb have reached the 60-doubles plateau.  What’s more, each of those 60-double campaigns took place between 1926 and 1936 during an era which saw unusually high scoring in MLB.  Since that time, the closest anyone had come to accruing 60 two-base hits was Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton who finished one shy of the mark with 59 in 2000.  While Freeman managed to hit doubles at a steady pace during September, he was unable to make a serious run at Webb’s record and, like Helton, checked up just short of the plateau with 59.  Nevertheless, the slugger easily topped the senior loop, ending the year 19 ahead of teammate Mookie Betts who slotted runner-up in the category.


Mookie Betts Leads His Respective League in WAR for the Third Time in His Career
While Braves sluggers Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson were heading the majority of the traditional statistical leaderboards, Mookie Betts was quietly crafting a brilliant campaign for the Dodgers.  Acquired by Los Angeles in a stunning trade with the Boston Red Sox prior to the 2020 season, Betts has continued to maintain his reputation as one of baseball’s finest players.  A true five-tool player, he was voted AL MVP in 2018 and has already claimed a half-dozen Gold Gloves and a handful of Silver Sluggers during his career.  However, in 2023, Betts showcased his value in a new way by bouncing between his natural position of right field to split time at second base while also making the occasional appearance at shortstop when needed.  In all, he made 77 starts at right, 62 at second, and 12 at short.  In 40 of his 152 games on defense, he shuttled between multiple positions during the contest.  Most impressively, Betts did not allow the Dodgers’ nomadic use of him to affect his performance in the field or at the plate as he provided value on both sides of the diamond to finish the season with a NL-leading 8.4 WAR.  This marked the third time Betts topped his respective league in the metric as he had previously paced the AL with 10.7 WAR during his MVP-winning 2018 campaign before accruing a senior circuit-best 3.6 figure over the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.  Betts’ 8.4 WAR edged Acuña’s runner-up figure of 8.1 and was followed by Olson’s 7.4 and Freeman’s 6.6 marks to give the NL a clear top-four players for 2023.  In addition to fronting the NL WAR leaderboard, this quartet of sluggers each played significant roles in their team’s success as the Braves easily claimed the NL East title with a MLB-high 104 victories while the 100-win Dodgers secured the NL West crown by a comfortable 16-game margin. 

Trea Turner Establishes a New Benchmark for Most Stolen Bases in a Season Without Being Caught
As Freddie Freeman was drawing attention for racking up doubles, few were noticing that he was recording a personal-best total in stolen bases.  The 33-year-old slugger swiped 23 bags in 2023, 10 more than he had during any prior season.  Most intriguing though is Freeman eclipsed his personal-best while only being caught stealing a single time.  On top of that, Freeman was caught in his first attempt, meaning he was successful 23 times in a row from that point forward.  However, one player not only stole bases with greater frequency than Freeman but also did so while maintaining a perfect success rate.  Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner attempted 30 steals during 2023 and was successful each time.  With his 30 thefts, Turner established a new record for most steals in a season without being caught—coincidentally surpassing the previous benchmark achieved by a former Phillies player, second baseman Chase Utley who went 23 for 23 in 2009.  Coming to Philadelphia as a blockbuster free-agent signing during the offseason, Turner drew comparisons to Utley as he possessed a similar skill set to the scrappy keystoner by blending power and speed while exhibiting the defensive capacity to occupy a middle infield position.  Turner logged his 24th steal on September 2 but did not choose to rest on breaking Utley’s record as he continued swiping bags with the same frequency over the final weeks of the regular season.  Like Utley, who boasted a superb 87.5% stolen base percentage for his career, Turner has maintained an excellent success rate of 86.1% through his first nine seasons in MLB.  Both Turner and the Phillies team overcame slow starts to the campaign and played their best baseball during the second half to come from behind and claim the top NL wild card seed.



TJ Friedl Achieves the Rare Feat of Finishing the Season Without Grounding into a Double Play
Another under-the-radar accomplishment that occurred during 2023 was Cincinnati Reds center fielder TJ Friedl managing to go the entire year without grounding into a double play.  Friedl spent the majority of the campaign alternating between batting out of the leadoff spot and the two-hole for Cincinnati.  Leadoff hitters often see less opportunities to ground into double plays as they are guaranteed at least one plate appearance with no runners on base.  Nevertheless, over his 556 plate appearances for the season, Friedl stepped into the batter’s box on 101 occasions with a runner on first and less than two outs—giving him a number of double play chances that was only slightly below the NL average of 112 per 600 plate appearances.  During 2023, senior circuit batters grounded into double plays at a rate of 10.2% when they had the opportunity to do so.  Thus, a NL hitter with Friedl’s 101 opportunities, on average would have grounded into 10 double plays.

The ground into double play stat started being tracked by the NL in 1933 and AL in 1939.  Friedl joined an exclusive club in 2023 as he became just the eighth player to finish the season without grounding into a double play while accumulating the required number of plate appearances to qualify for the batting title during a campaign that was completed under a 154 or 162-game schedule.  The first batter to achieve this rare feat, George Watkins, did so in 1934 when players were only required to appear in 100 games to qualify for the batting crown.  Interestingly, Rob Deer is the sole AL player to turn the trick since the junior circuit’s 1973 adoption of the designated hitter.  However, Friedl is the first NL player to do so after the senior loop made the use of designated hitters universal in 2022.  Since breaking into the big leagues with Cincinnati at the tail end of the 2021 campaign, Friedl has distinguished himself as one of the toughest batters to turn two on as he has grounded into a mere three doubles plays over his first 850 plate appearances.  Moreover, with Friedl being only age 28 entering 2024, it is possible that he could be the first hitter to accomplish the feat of finishing the season without grounding into a double play multiple times during his career.


--by John Tuberty

Follow me on Twitter/X @BloggerTubbs


Sources:
All statistics are drawn from Baseball Reference and Stathead







Cards: Luis Arraez 2020 Topps Stickers, Luis Arraez 2023 Topps Pristine-Refractor, Hanley Ramírez 2009 Upper Deck-Starquest-Emerald Super Rare, Yandy Díaz 2022 Topps Series 2, Corey Seager 2023 Bowman, Jason Bartlett 2008 Topps Updates & Highlights, Eugenio Suárez 2023 Topps Heritage, Teoscar Hernández 2023 Topps Heritage, Luis Castillo 2023 Topps Chrome-1988 Topps Baseball, Ronald Acuña Jr. 2023 Topps Series 1, Matt Olson 2023 Topps Series 2, Freddie Freeman 2023 Topps Series 1, Mookie Betts 2023 Topps Series 1, Trea Turner 2023 Bowman, Chase Utley 2008 Topps Heritage, TJ Friedl 2022 Topps Stadium Club


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