Luis Arraez won the 2022 American League batting title while playing for the Minnesota Twins. He finished the season with a .316 batting average, narrowly beating New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who finished at .311.
The title reflected Arraez’s distinctive offensive style. Rather than relying on home-run power, he excelled at making frequent contact, controlling the strike zone and spraying line drives to all fields. He struck out unusually rarely and became known for extending at-bats and turning borderline pitches into hits.
Arraez became the fifth player in Twins franchise history to win an American League batting crown, following Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, Kirby Puckett and Joe Mauer. His championship also ended Minnesota’s wait for another batting title after Mauer won in 2009.
The season had an additional historical wrinkle: Judge led the American League in home runs and runs batted in, so Arraez’s batting crown prevented Judge from completing the AL Triple Crown. Arraez later won the 2023 National League batting title with Miami.