BALTIMORE — Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda entered Thursday leading the American League with 41 RBIs — sixth-most in the Majors — while hitting .356 with runners in scoring position through the club’s first 53 games, a run-production tear that has drawn little national attention for the 28-year-old.
“It’s those moments that are really the ones that matter. You never know in tight-game situations if that one run is going to be the difference-maker,” Aranda said through interpreter Kevin Vera on Wednesday afternoon in Baltimore. “Not necessarily that other at-bats don’t matter, but in that moment I’m kind of telling myself, ‘OK, it’s the big moment, so time to come through.’”
Aranda, who made his first All-Star team last year, is slashing .286/.384/.476 on the season. His consistency has been striking: the only stretch of three consecutive games without an RBI came from May 6-10, a drought he ended by driving in three runs on May 11 in Toronto.
“It feels great. I’m not necessarily looking to be the No. 1 guy, but I’ve just been able to come through in the right situations,” Aranda said. “The biggest thing is I’m just trying to help my team, so I’ve been lucky to do that.”
The production has come despite a slow start. In his first 30 games, Aranda had more RBIs (25) than hits (24), batting just .220 with 33 strikeouts in March and April. “I kind of had to take a step back and look at myself, look in the mirror, and see what I had to adjust,” he said. He shortened his swing, stopped trying to pull fastballs and refocused on driving the ball to the middle of the field.
The adjustment has been dramatic. This month Aranda is slashing .375/.454/.513 with 16 RBIs and only 21 strikeouts in 23 games, ranking first among qualified hitters in batting average and on-base percentage and eighth in OPS.
Rays manager Kevin Cash said the quiet demeanor fuels the clutch hitting. “I think he carries a quiet confidence every day to the ballpark,” Cash said. “He’s certainly helped our team a lot this season, definitely in the clutch with guys on base. You feed off whatever personality you carry. Some guys get super amped up, and that benefits them. And Jonny’s probably the opposite, where it does seem like he’s got a lot of confidence and he does it very calmly. … But he has such a solid, consistent approach that allows him to handle some tough situations.”
Starter Steven Matz offered a more vivid description: “Everything just looks so effortless to me. It looks like he barely swings, and then you look at the scoreboard [and] it’s 106 in the gap. He’s just so calm. I think that really speaks to him driving runs in. The moment’s never too big for him.”
Starter Nick Martinez echoed the sentiment. “He goes about his business. He understands who he is as a player,” Martinez said. “When he gets his opportunity, he doesn’t miss.”
Aranda and the Rays continue their series in Baltimore before returning to Tropicana Field for a homestand next week.