In what is becoming a yearly occurrence in Major League Baseball, San Diego Padres infielder Luis Arraez has clinched his third consecutive batting title, per Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY.
Narrowly holding off Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, Arraez finishes the season with a .314 average after going 1-for-3 on Sunday before being removed from the game.
Ohtani was making a late surge in an effort to win the National League triple crown (he leads the NL in home runs and RBI), but came up just short.
What makes this batting title so noteworthy for Arraez is not just the fact he has won three in a row. It is the fact he has done it primarily with three different teams.
He is the first player to ever accomplish that, per Nightengale.
Arraez won the American League batting title in 2022 with a .316 mark and was then traded to the Miami Marlins in the offseason.
He then won the 2023 NL batting crown with a .354 average.
He opened this season in Miami and was traded in early April to San Diego, where he held on to win again.
Arraez is a throwback to a different era because he does not really do anything else overwhelmingly well outside of hit singles. He does not draw a ton of walks, he does not hit for much power and he does not strike out. In an era full of power hitters and three-outcome hitters (strikeout, walk, home run), Arraez is a more traditional contact hitter who uses the entire field.