Latino players top MLB batting stats
Across the league, Latin America is heading up the batting stats as players like Adolis García and Luis Arraez are leading several offensive categories.
Although it may seem hard to believe, one third of the 2023 Major League Baseball season is almost over.
The new rules incorporated to make the encounters more agile and spectacular seen to been fairly well assimilated, although still kicking up pointy issues regularly.
Up until now, many teams and players are meeting pre-season expectations while others have emerged to claim the spotlight in spectacular fashion, such as the Tampa Bay Rays or the Baltimore Orioles.
With 236 Latinos across the league’s rosters on opening day, plus a few who have been added mid-flow, there is an awful lot of Spanish spoken around Major League Baseball. The presence of Latinos is most heavily felt when looking at the main offensive statistics.
Batting Average
Last season’s American League batting title went to the Minnesota Twins’ Venezuelan slugger Luis Arraez, who has now transferred his talents over to the National League where he is not slowing down at all, doing what he does best: hit, hit, and hit again.
With the Miami Marlins, Arraez has continued to rain baseballs all over the place, filling the field with hits. The second baseman has the best batting average in either league at .382 and even peeked over .400 for a few days. He has had 60 hits and 15 RBIs and became the first Marlin player ever to hit for the cycle on April 11 against the Phillies.
Runs Batted In
The Texas Rangers have been flying under the radar. Although one of the most exciting turnarounds in MLB, they have such a reputation for collapse that everyone expected them to tumble down the AL West standings long before now. The fact that they haven’t is partly thanks to Cuban power hitter Adolis García, who has 49 RBIs so far. The Boston Red Sox’s Dominican third baseman Rafael Devers is trailing him in second place with 44.
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Runs Scored
The Atlanta Braves have one of the most dangerous men in the game in Venezuelan outfielder Ronald Acuña. On the way to achieving a historic season, Acuña is leading various categories including runs scored, crossing the plate 44 times for the Braves. His 62 hits sees him in second place behind Bo Bichette’s 64, and after missing nearly two full seasons with a horrific ACL tear in his right knee, Acuña is astonishingly in second place in stolen bases with 18, not to mention his 11 dingers.
Walks
After the intense scramble to sign Dominican Juan Soto two years ago, it is disappointing that the San Diego Padres have not been able to live up to expectations. Nevertheless, Soto is a fearsome hitter best avoided by most pitchers, to the point that he has drawn 41 walks this season.
Stolen Bases
Despite Ronald Acuña Jr’s historic season in-the-making over in Atlanta, no player in MLB has stolen more bases than Dominican Esteury Ruiz with 24. This is already only one less than his total for all of last season. Ruiz has been the only good thing that Oakland Athletics fans have had to hold onto this year and could be the first Oakland player to finish as stolen base champion since Rickey Henderson in 1998.
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Home Runs
While not Latin American per-se, American Pete Alonso is the son of refugees who fled Spain during that country’s civil war, and the “Polar Bear” has been an important part of the Mets’ takeoff over the past week, with his hitting power giving opposing pitchers headaches. Alonso leads the league in home runs with 17, ahead of Cuban Adolis García with 14 and Dominican Rafael Devers with 13.