3 Reason why Miami Marlins Luis Arraez is the leading MVP Candidate and 2 reasons why he won't win

The Miami Marlins have a star and an MVP and if you don't know that already, you haven't been paying attention. Luis Arraez is in his first year with the Miami Marlins and is on his way to breaking records this season, and as such he should be the clear MVP of the National League right now, but is he? Here are three reasons why he should be the MVP leader and two reasons why he won't win.

Miami Marlins Luis Arraez NL MVP - Reason 1

Miami Marlins second baseman Luis Arraez has been all over the top of the Marlins lineup, from leadoff to cleanup, he has produced. Arraez is the National League leader in hits right now with 85 ahead of both Freddie Freeman (81) and Ronald Acuna (79). Those two are consistently talked about as league MVPs, yet Arraez is besting them in the most fundamental aspect of baseball. Should he now be in that discussion, we say yes. Now to blow your mind on Arraez' lead in hits, he has done so in 30 fewer at bats. 30! If he had as many at bats as those two players, he would be leading by 11 or 12 hits.

Miami Marlins Luis Arraez NL MVP - Reason 2

The most popular and defining factor right now when people hear the name Luis Arraez is batting average, and justifiably so, as he is currently sitting at .401 on June 7th. Finally, the Major League Baseball community has taken notice, as seen below, Luis Arraez is chasing history when it comes to batting average. Only 13 times, according to ESPN.com, has a player ended a season hitting over .400, and three of those times was Ty Cobb and another three were Rogers Hornsby.

The next two highest batting averages in the National League belong to Freddie Freeman (.329) and Ronald Acuna (.329), which is a great average, yet it is nowhere close to Luis Arraez. That should immediately impress, even the casual fan.

Miami Marlins Luis Arraez NL MVP - Reason 3

Miami Marlins star Luis Arraez leads the National League in a few more offensive categories, strikeouts (lowest), on base percentage, and OPS+. Arraez sits at .451 for on base percentage, which is well above Ronald Acuna (.404) and Freddie Freeman (.402) who sit at fourth and fifth place in the league, respectively.

Arraez gets on base and this fact is highlighted by his league low 11 strikeouts (min 175 ABs) and the next closest person has at least 10 more strikeouts, and to further the comparison, Freddie Freeman has 44 and Ronald Acuna has 37. National League MVP should be leader Luis Arraez has a 161 OPS+ currently which is above Freddie Freeman (158) and Ronald Acuna (157).

Miami Marlins Luis Arraez National League MVP - Why not reason 2

The next big category and reason why Miami Marlins second baseman Luis Arraez will not be considered for National League MVP is his team, their record, and their place among baseball big wigs. Miami is not the heralded long-time baseball land like New York or Boston or Los Angeles or Atlanta. Those are the places of baseball history and Miami is new on the scene and their standing in the playoff picture. Some analysts will argue that they must win it all or win their division to be considered for MVP and the Marlins have a tough roadblock in the Atlanta Braves to get to that point.

The second part to this final reason he won't be considered is the RBI ranking. The Miami Marlins don't score runs in bunches like other teams and they are currently tied for 14th in the National League and 25th overall. As such, Luis Arraez has only 30 RBI for the season which puts him well behind Freddie Freeman (39) and the league leader Pete Alonso (49). That is ok though, he doesn't have to lead every category but the sexy categories that the pundits look at he won't be in the conversation, and that inevitably could damage his chances at National League MVP.