The Brilliance of Luis Arraez

[rwilfong86]

In just over a month, Luis Arraez has improved his average from .296 to .358 (including back to back hitless games last week!). Could we see him make a run at .400 this summer?

 

Seeing him win a batting title would be pretty amazing. 

[GNess]

.400? Unlikely. But he is fun to watch compete!

[rwilfong86]

9 minutes ago, GNess said:

.400? Unlikely. But he is fun to watch compete!

If he can get it up to the .380 mark wouldn't that be fun?

[stringer bell]

I would love to see Arraez  win a batting title and he is the best in baseball at getting on base. He is limited in some ways, but when it comes to OBP, he has no peer. 

[nicksaviking]

Yeah, all of this time I'd been thinking that Arraez has been a lifesaver for the Twins, but the fact that he's playing a premium offensive position really diminishes his value.

Then I looked around the AL and realized that it's no longer a premium offensive position.

[twinssporto]

This kid is the real deal. Always hits and gets on base.

Arraez looks like the only player at the moment that could hit that elusive .400... 

[dex8425]

40 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Yeah, all of this time I'd been thinking that Arraez has been a lifesaver for the Twins, but the fact that he's playing a premium offensive position really diminishes his value.

Then I looked around the AL and realized that it's no longer a premium offensive position.

Yeah his only real competition there is Ty France, who is having a heck of a year for Seattle. I don't think France will continue to hit. 330 but so far France has been more valuable than Arraez due to a higher OPS and more games, plus more slug and a lot more RBI's. 

[rwilfong86]

1 hour ago, twinssporto said:

This kid is the real deal. Always hits and gets on base.

Arraez looks like the only player at the moment that could hit that elusive .400... 

The fact he raised his average 60 points in a month, rarely strikes out and draws walks consistently definitely makes him seem like the only player right now who could come close. He could be our generations Carew or Gwynn. 

[SwainZag]

I made a trip to see a game at Target Field on my birthday in April and was shocked and appalled that the team store had not one Arraez item.  I am guessing that has probably changed or will soon change if he keeps hitting.

That being said, I absolutely love his old school approach at the plate.  In a generation which has seemingly lost hitters who choke up, fight off pitches and put the ball in the play with 2 strikes rather than swing for the fences.  I know advanced stats do not love singles hitters....and a team full of them wouldn't succeed, but with the clip he gets on base he becomes insanely important when you have studs hitting behind him.

 

[Trov]

I love watching him hit.  Yes, he is mostly a singles hitter, and with so much about power theses days he appears to have less value.  However, I would have to argue that anyone who gets on base at his rate, regardless of the power, he still has to have a lot of value.  I also feel like he could get a few more extra base hits if he tried, and eventually you might see the LF play so shallow trying to snare a line drive you see him drive it over their head.  

Arraez looks like he can hit the ball just about where ever he wants to if he waits for his pitch.  Right now he is lining so many line drives to LF past the infielders.  I agree that extra base hits would be better if he could do that, but getting on base 45% of the time is crazy.  Even if he is only getting a few extra base hits and no one ever scores from 2nd because OF is so shallow on him.  I have a feeling he will start to look to hit over the OF head as the season goes on in those situations. 

[Danchat]

It's good they didn't trade him (there was some discussions here regarding that) - I always thought it was important to have a OBP monster early in the lineup. It helps that he's been healthy the whole year. I don't expect him to keep hitting .350 the whole year, but he's a great guy to have in the lineup.

[rwilfong86]

18 minutes ago, Danchat said:

It's good they didn't trade him (there was some discussions here regarding that) - I always thought it was important to have a OBP monster early in the lineup. It helps that he's been healthy the whole year. I don't expect him to keep hitting .350 the whole year, but he's a great guy to have in the lineup.

Can you imagine Arraez getting on base for a healthy Buxton and Correa for the second half of the season?

[Twinsrtheworst]

2 hours ago, rwilfong86 said:

Can you imagine Arraez getting on base for a healthy Buxton and Correa for the second half of the season?

I really can not.  Just injury and glove and I hope.

[rwilfong86]

4 hours ago, SwainZag said:

I made a trip to see a game at Target Field on my birthday in April and was shocked and appalled that the team store had not one Arraez item.  I am guessing that has probably changed or will soon change if he keeps hitting.

I tried to get a jersey from the team store (didn't wanna pay $325ish) and the sports store at the Mall of America in May and came up empty. I did find a jersey T shirt though, but yeah finding his stuff is a big of a challenge. Let's hope his stuff flows as freely from stores as Polanco and Kepler which I seemed to find everywhere. 

[JustWinBaby]

Luis Arraez and Ichiro Suzuki have similar career stats as hitters: BA, OBP, SLG, OPS are very similar. They are both Hall of Fame caliber players with their bats.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Baseball as a whole would be much better if there were several dozen players a lot more like Luis Arraez. Literally everything he does is wildly entertaining, including watching him just hop around in the box and say "no" to a pitch outside.

[rwilfong86]

Got my Arraez signed jersey back from the framer today. Below it are a pair of signed game used cleats, a signed ball, and a game used hit ball from May 14th (I have a video loop of him getting the hit on the small screen and a photo of the COA in the frame). My favorite player!