Miami Marlins lead-off hitter in 2023?

What will ultimately be the Miami Marlins batting order? That's one of the questions that we have going into the season. We don't know yet how the batting order will actually look yet, but we can make some educated guesses based on how Spring Training has been going so far. Speaking of Spring Training, the bad win-loss record is pretty meaningless and isn't a reflection of how the team will do once the season starts. So, who will bat lead-off?

Luis Arraez appears to be the new Miami Marlins lead-off hitter.

In 2022, the Miami Marlins used Jazz Chisholm Jr. as the lead-off hitter. Jazz is a great player and I have high hopes for him to have a big year in 2023. He's not the best contact hitter unfortunately, having a .243 career batting average. That doesn't play too well at the lead-off spot, but it does lower in the batting order. The lead-off spot is perfect for someone who gets on base at a high rate and hits well for average. Does that remind you of anyone?

Luis Arraez is of course the ideal lead-off hitter for the Miami Marlins. The 2022 American League batting champ is a career .314/.374/.410 hitter, and batted .316/.375/.420 in 144 games and 547 AB in 2022. The OBP and batting average were both well above average, making Arraez an ideal "table-setter" for any lineup.

There are Miami Marlins fans who believe that he would be better off batting third. I don't think that it would've been a bad idea. After all, the third spot in the batting order traditionally went to the best overall hitter on the team. I believe that Jazz is the best overall hitter on the team, but since contact is preferred for the third spot, it's not hard to envision a scenario where Arraez bats third and Jazz bats fourth. The problem is who would then bat lead-off? Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a better candidate.

I'm excited about the likelihood of Luis Arraez batting lead-off for the Miami Marlins. I think that he's the best choice for the role at the moment.