Can we just celebrate Luis Arraez for a moment?

[PopRiveter]

For the past several years, I have missed the baseball of my youth where batting .300 meant something to players and rallies consisted of a string of hits & walks. Back when we lauded Kirby for hitting bad balls hard.

The modern homerun/strikeout version of baseball surely produced some exciting moments, but for me it often felt like a game other than baseball. The great contact hitters seemed to be minimized/marginalized and that skillset became more and more rare. Players seemed happy to trade out 40 line-drive hits for 10 more home runs on the season.

This year is very different. The 2022 environment is now rewarding the great contact hitters. Multi-hit rallies are thing again. Scoring is not just based on walks and home runs anymore, and my guy Luis Arraez is a downright rockstar with a bat in his hands so far.

If you'd suggested before the season that Arraez should be the Twins regular starting 1st baseman I would not have agreed. Today, I'm 100% sold. His defensive limitations can hide there and his bat is special.

Among qualifiers, Arraez's .347 batting average is 3rd in the AL, his .446 OBP is 1st place in MLB. 

He's been remarkably consistent and it looks to me like his success has been influential on the plate approach of the team at large. 

I'm on my feet and clapping! 

[nicksaviking]

Yeah, I used to memorize every stat on the back of baseball cards; winning the batting title was a big deal to me. Only one guy from each league was worthy enough to have their batting average in BOLD numbers.

Alas, sorry, but I am one of those who have put a diminishing value on batting average. But that is hardly a loss for Luis Arraez, because I am more than willing to celebrate his team leading OPS of .861. Good lord, an on base percentage of .446? Kudos, well done sir.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

26 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Yeah, I used to memorize every stat on the back of baseball cards; winning the batting title was a big deal to me. Only one guy from each league was worthy enough to have their batting average in BOLD numbers.

Alas, sorry, but I am one of those who have put a diminishing value on batting average. But that is hardly a loss for Luis Arraez, because I am more than willing to celebrate his team leading OPS of .861. Good lord, an on base percentage of .446? Kudos, well done sir.

Batting average is a component of the “on base” portion of On-base Plus Slugging no?

while I’m with you that batting average isn’t the be-all end-all, a high contact rate, high rate of base runners brand of baseball is more fun to watch.

agreed with the OP, it’s great to see Arraez have his day and he’s loads of fun to watch.

[nicksaviking]

6 hours ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

Batting average is a component of the “on base” portion of On-base Plus Slugging no?

while I’m with you that batting average isn’t the be-all end-all, a high contact rate, high rate of base runners brand of baseball is more fun to watch.

agreed with the OP, it’s great to see Arraez have his day and he’s loads of fun to watch.

And I think you could make an argument that batting average is more important then on base percentage, as walks absolutely should not be valued the same as a hit. No one has ever driven home a runner on 2B with a walk.

I just meant to imply that I found his OBP even more obscene than his batting average.

He's been a super valuable player no matter how you slice his stats.

[Mike Sixel]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/more-young-players-who-should-be-next-to-sign-long-term-deals/

[ToddlerHarmon]

15 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I think you could make an argument that batting average is more important the on base percentage, as walks absolutely should not be valued the same as a hit. No one has ever driven home a runner on 2B with a walk.

Bill James understood this, as his models had a single as worth more than a walk. It's all codified in the Runs Created stat, or "wRC+", if you want the version that controls for era, ballpark, etc.

Not as easily computed as OPS, but a much better all-in-one hitting stat, in my opinion.

[rwilfong86]

Twins need to sign him longterm as soon as they can.

[denarded]

BA may not be the end all be all, but putting a ball in play makes the defense have to react and we have benefitted from bad opponent defense. Striking out does no good. I agree with OP that baseball with contact is more fun to watch

[CRF]

Arraez should be the leadoff hitter, not Buck. 

[PopRiveter]

19 minutes ago, CRF said:

Arraez should be the leadoff hitter, not Buck. 

I'm all for Buxton getting as many PA's as possible overall, but at least until he's past this slump, your plan is definitely better. Even when his mojo comes back, it couldn't hurt to have Arraez on base for 45% of his PA's. 

[Tim]

I remember this past winter when many on this site were upset by someone suggesting that 24 year old Luis Arraez was still developing and believed him to only ever be a "banjo hitter with bad knees" .. Interesting take now.

Funny how things change.

[shortround81]

I love Luis because he understands the fundamentals of hockey

#TBT

[shortround81]

Also, kudos to him for working so hard on his English. No shame if a player needs a translator. Love Elvis Martinez. But, Luis faces the media in his second language. I remember seeing him on the Twins Caravan when they came to Fargo a few years ago. Elvis was there, but Luis addressed the crowd on his own. Dick Bremer acknowledged it, and we gave him a round of applause for the effort

[nicksaviking]

34 minutes ago, Tim said:

I remember this past winter when many on this site were upset by someone suggesting that 24 year old Luis Arraez was still developing and believed him to only ever be a "banjo hitter with bad knees" .. Interesting take now.

Funny how things change.

Well I mean he still only has 6 XBH, so he's still kind of a "banjo hitter." 

In 2022 a banjo hitter is way better than most of the league though.

[rwilfong86]

29 minutes ago, shortround81 said:

I love Luis because he understands the fundamentals of hockey

#TBT

That is the best thing I've seen all day ?

[shortround81]

2 minutes ago, rwilfong86 said:

That is the best thing I've seen all day ?

I don't know which I love more: Luis wanting to break legs or Jose immediately refusing to play 

[rwilfong86]

Just now, shortround81 said:

I don't know which I love more: Luis wanting to break legs or Jose immediately refusing to play 

Arraez made the statement in Spanish along the lines of "and they pull out their teeth" so Berrios wasn't too excited after that?

[Craig Arko]

Going along with the hits and the walks is the very low strikeout rate. Really a refreshing change from the opposite approach.

Definitely think he should be signed as a Twin for the long haul.

[shortround81]

Just now, rwilfong86 said:

Arraez made the statement in Spanish along the lines of "and they pull out their teeth" so Berrios wasn't too excited after that?

That's awesome! I miss La Makina

[rwilfong86]

2 minutes ago, shortround81 said:

That's awesome! I miss La Makina

Me too, First signed jersey I ever acquired. 

[Tim]

26 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Well I mean he still only has 6 XBH, so he's still kind of a "banjo hitter." 

In 2022 a banjo hitter is way better than most of the league though.

Jorge Polanco career OPS - .779

Luis Arraez career OPS - .787

One of those hitters has never, ever, ever, been knocked for being a "banjo hitter"

[shortround81]

5 minutes ago, rwilfong86 said:

Me too, First signed jersey I ever acquired. 

That's awesome!

[bean5302]

Honestly, Luis Arraez is great for the Twins and MLB. Not just because he gets on base, but he's EXCITING. I don't want to miss his plate appearances because there's a good chance something worth watching is going to happen. A ball is going to be put into play, etc. I also like the way he looks this year, like he's trimmed down a bit. At least from my observations.

All the praise aside, Arraez doesn't have a good place on the team right now. Arraez is a starting caliber 2B. He's probably not a shortstop and the Twins' need for a player at short seems to have been completely erased at this point anyway. Arraez could potentially be a 3rd baseman, but the need for a player at the hot corner isn't definite with Urshela swinging the bat better (though it'd be nice to see some power).

I hate it when the Twins marginalize player value by shoehorning players into less valuable positions. Arraez's value decreases by 1.5 WAR or $12MM (by the common $8MM/year metric people seem to use) per year at 1B instead of 2B. This not only has long term impacts on Arraez's earning potential, but also has the impact of killing Arraez's trade value. 

I'd like the Twins to move Urshela in order to open up some of the logjam in the infield.

 

[rwilfong86]

1 minute ago, shortround81 said:

That's awesome!

Berrios and Mauer

[rwilfong86]

7 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Honestly, Luis Arraez is great for the Twins and MLB. Not just because he gets on base, but he's EXCITING. I don't want to miss his plate appearances because there's a good chance something worth watching is going to happen. A ball is going to be put into play, etc. I also like the way he looks this year, like he's trimmed down a bit. At least from my observations.

All the praise aside, Arraez doesn't have a good place on the team right now. Arraez is a starting caliber 2B. He's probably not a shortstop and the Twins' need for a player at short seems to have been completely erased at this point anyway. Arraez could potentially be a 3rd baseman, but the need for a player at the hot corner isn't definite with Urshela swinging the bat better (though it'd be nice to see some power).

I hate it when the Twins marginalize player value by shoehorning players into less valuable positions. Arraez's value decreases by 1.5 WAR or $12MM (by the common $8MM/year metric people seem to use) per year at 1B instead of 2B. This not only has long term impacts on Arraez's earning potential, but also has the impact of killing Arraez's trade value. 

I'd like the Twins to move Urshela in order to open up some of the logjam in the infield.

 

Arraez has struggled at 3rd, and due to the hole at 1st it may be his best option right now and for the near future. Sano isn't the answer and who knows when or if Kirilloff gets his swing back. 

[PopRiveter]

My baseball memorabilia display is considerably more modest. ?

[shortround81]

8 minutes ago, PopRiveter said:

My baseball memorabilia display is considerably more modest. ?

 

[rwilfong86]

8 minutes ago, PopRiveter said:

My baseball memorabilia display is considerably more modest. ?

Awesome! Tortuga was such a spark plug. 

[rwilfong86]

28 minutes ago, PopRiveter said:

My baseball memorabilia display is considerably more modest. ?

I'm lucky because my wife likes baseball so I don't get in much trouble when I indulge in some piece that may be a little more expensive.

[TheLeviathan]

Defensively he's a bit rough and I know a lot of people wanted him out for that reason.  Truth is...he's not that bad defensively.  He's no star, but he's servicable.

I said last year that I'd rather move Polanco to short than give up on Arraez.  He brings too much value to the table, not just in terms of OBP but the way he works counts and pitchers.  It's old school, but he's a tone setter.

I'm with the article Mike linked above....lock the man up.  We'll find a spot for him to play.