Luis Arraez doesn’t hit many homers, so when he does, it makes sense that he’d celebrate accordingly.
Arraez is a rare contact-first hitter, racking up singles while most other players today sell out for power. He’s making a run at a historic .400 batting average (although an 0-for-4 day on Sunday dropped his average to .399) but rarely picks up extra-base hits. His career high for homers is eight, set in 144 games for the Twins last season.
But Arraez went deep in the Marlins’ game against Pirates on Saturday, giving Miami a two-run lead in the fifth with a homer to right. It was just his third dinger of the season, and he got his money’s worth celebrating.
All eyes on Arraez.
— MLB (@MLB) June 24, 2023
The hit king knocks one over the fence. 💪 pic.twitter.com/XW0hgDeCng
Here’s a better look at his enormous bat flip.
Bat flip szn! #MakeItMiami pic.twitter.com/hX9Ieyjohg
— Bally Sports Florida & Bally Sports Sun (@BallySportsFL) June 24, 2023
When you homer as infrequently as Arraez does, you need to savor every moment of the celebration.
The fact that it was just Arraez’s third homer of the year might even undersell how unlikely it was. The ball left his bat at 101.6 mph. That’s his second hardest-hit ball of the season and only his eighth with an exit velocity over 100 mph all season. He’s put 265 balls in play this season, which means only 3% of them have had a triple-digit exit velo. His average exit velocity of 88.7 is ranked 56th in the majors. So who can blame him for showing out when he finally got a hold of one?
