Susceptible to stating the apparent, Luis Arraez doesn’t strike out typically. Since 2022, his first full season and the yr he gained his first batting title, Arraez has struck out 5.5% of the time. Let me put that into context. As of this morning, the Padres have a 6.0% likelihood to win the NL West. Meaning they’re extra more likely to upset the baseball-ruining Dodgers than Arraez is to strike out in any given plate look. And that could be underselling his abilities. Within the second half of 2024, he lowered his strikeout fee even additional, taking place on strikes simply 5 occasions over his remaining 57 video games. That included baseball’s first 30-game strikeout-less streak in 20 years. For the reason that 2024 All-Star break, Arraez has struck out in 1.9% of his journeys to the plate. In the meantime, San Diego’s odds of successful the World Collection at present sit at 2.2%. A pessimist would possibly use that comparability to reveal that the Padres are lengthy pictures; 17 groups have a greater likelihood to win all of it. An optimist would counter that each time Arraez strikes out, it’s a reminder that the Padres are nonetheless World Collection contenders. If that’s the best way you see it, nicely, boy did the Padres get one heck of a reminder on Wednesday afternoon. For the primary time all season, Arraez struck out.
It was the highest of the ninth. The Padres have been up 2-1. The inning started with a base hit by Martín Maldonado. That itself is a uncommon sufficient occasion. No different batter in recorded main league historical past has taken as many plate appearances as Maldonado (3,888) and has such a low batting common (.204) to indicate for it. Including to the unlikelihood of Maldonado’s single, the batted ball had a mere .100 anticipated batting common, a 1-in-10 likelihood to be successful. But, third baseman Max Schuemann, who entered the sport that inning as a defensive substitute, flubbed the play. The ball slipped proper out of his glove. As I watched his ill-fated try to retrieve the ball, I couldn’t assist however consider my 6-year-old self attempting to crossover dribble like Allen Iverson. Neither of us had any management of the ball:
With Maldonado on first, Arraez stepped as much as the dish. He was already 0-for-4 with three fly outs, a wierd sufficient day for a participant who not often hits fly balls. For the reason that day of his debut in 2019, Arraez has taken 2,916 plate appearances. Thirty-nine others have taken as many or extra plate appearances in that point. None of them has a decrease fly ball fee. However I’m getting off observe. We aren’t right here to speak about fly balls.
The pitcher on the mound was Justin Sterner, who someway isn’t the A’s participant with the closest-sounding title to a present or former Dodgers third baseman. Sterner, an offseason waiver declare from the Rays, has appeared sharp thus far in seven video games for his new workforce. He entered this contest with 9 strikeouts by his first six appearances. His tenth can be his most spectacular but. Arraez took Sterner’s first pitch, an 88-mph cutter on the upper-inside nook, for a strike. The rely was 0-1:
Pitch quantity two was a 94-mph fastball that Arraez despatched straight again into the crotch of catcher Shea Langeliers:
Is it humorous when a person will get hit in the household jewels? I’ll allow you to resolve for your self. What I like a lot about this second isn’t the slapstick, however slightly the refined humor of how awkwardly Arraez behaves within the aftermath. One among my favourite bits from the little-known tv comedy Associates is the scene the place Ross picks up a lamp. That’s the very first thing I considered once I noticed Arraez decide up that baseball. Why was his first intuition to choose up the ball as rapidly as doable? I’m really unsure. Was he frightened somebody would journey on it? Was he attempting to cover the weapon? Or did he merely really feel a must do one thing, and selecting up the ball was the primary concept that popped into his head? He’s like a well-meaning however clueless husband attempting to supply assist whereas his spouse is in labor. However as an alternative of working for ice chips, he determined to choose up a baseball.
Arraez’s subsequent transfer made extra sense, as he went to pat Langeliers on the again. Nevertheless, the results of his earlier actions quickly returned to hang-out him. He was nonetheless holding that rattling baseball:
It grew to become one thing of a dance for Arraez, who went backwards and forwards between comforting Langeliers and coping with the ball. It’s humorous to look at as a result of we’ve all been in that place earlier than, going through a state of affairs the place we really feel like we should always assist however there actually isn’t a lot we will do. It’s even funnier in juxtaposition to the bodily comedy of a person getting bopped within the beans. It’s definitely funnier than the A’s TV broadcaster suggesting they name the catcher “Shea Ache-geliers,” although maybe not fairly as humorous because the Padres announcer blurting out, “They name him Langy!” in response to completely nothing (except he was listening to the A’s broadcast). He simply appeared to be studying the title plate on Langeliers’ chest protector as a result of, very like Arraez, he wasn’t certain what else to do.
The third pitch of the at-bat was an 81-mph sweeper within the dust. It by no means got here near Arraez, and certainly, he watched it bounce. But, seemingly nonetheless spooked by what occurred on the earlier pitch, he made a delayed effort to keep away from getting hit. Perhaps Arraez thought the ball was going to bounce off Langeliers and hit him in an act of swift poetic justice. That might clarify why he shielded his face together with his hand as he spun virtually 360 levels to keep away from a projectile that didn’t come wherever near his physique:
In the end, you’re all caught up on the sequence of incidents that set the stage for the strikeout. With a 1-2 rely, Sterner threw one other inside cutter, very like the primary pitch of the at-bat. This time, nonetheless, he missed his spot badly:
The pitch hit Arraez squarely on his left thigh. Dwelling plate umpire James Hoye known as it strike three. The decision was right:
Certainly, there wasn’t something controversial about it. Whilst Arraez stood up and began strolling to first base, and even when Mike Shildt got here out to debate the decision, I don’t consider both was robust in his convictions. Merely put, it wasn’t shut. This wasn’t a case of a batter unintentionally bringing his bat round as he tried to keep away from a missile hurtling towards him. Arraez started his swing with intention and didn’t even begin to pull it again till the ball had already made contact together with his physique. Some umpires could be holding a grudge in opposition to Arraez for disparaging feedback he made in spring coaching, however that’s not what this was. This was a strike:
All through his profession, Arraez has solely swung and missed at 16 of the 930 (1.7%) pitches he’s seen within the waste zone (per Statcast). That’s one-third of the league-average fee. Of the 257 batters who’ve seen no less than 500 waste zone pitches since 2019, solely 5 have a decrease swing-and-miss fee than Arraez. It’s not typically you’ll see him fail to make contact so miserably. The truth is, having watched all 16 of his waste-zone whiffs, I might argue this was the only worst swing determination (class: context impartial) of his profession.
Maybe there was one thing within the air in Sacramento that day. In any case, Maldonado bought successful, and Arraez didn’t. If that’s not an indication of the apocalypse, I don’t know what’s. Supernatural or not, this unusual, humorous, and painful sequence of occasions that lastly led to Arraez’s first strikeout is precisely why I really like writing about baseball.
Oh, and did I point out it was his birthday?