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Luis Arraez is off to baseball's hottest start in 23 years

Don't worry, Twins fans. The trade has worked out well for Minnesota, too.

Joe Nelson

Luis Arraez is off to baseball's hottest start in 23 years
Luis Arraez is off to baseball's hottest start in 23 years /

Luis Arraez has become a fan favorite in Miami just months after Minnesota traded him to the Marlins for starting pitcher Pablo Lopez, who likewise is turning heads for the Twins. 

On Tuesday, Arraez continued his torrid hitting to begin the season by becoming the first player in Marlins history to hit for the cycle. He doubled in the first inning, lined out to center in the third, tripled in the sixth, homered in the seventh and completed the cycle with a single in the eighth. 

Through 12 games, Arraez is 22 for 41 for an eye-popping .537 batting average. According to ESPN, that's the highest average for any player in the first 12 games of a season since Frank Cattalanotto started the 2000 season hitting .600. 

But unlike Arraez, Cattalanotto was injured after 10 games and missed a month before getting to his 11th and 12th games. He still had a .403 batting average on the Fourth of July that season before tailing off and finishing with a .291 average, though he only played in 103 games. 

Last year with Minnesota, Arraez's first 12 games resulted in 11 hits in 36 at-bats for a .305 batting average. He went on to hit .316 and win the American League batting title. 

Lopez, meanwhile, is second in the majors with 26 strikeouts through three starts. He struck out 10 in 7.2 innings Tuesday and at one point retired 23 batters in a row. 

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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17. 

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