LUIS ARRAEZ

• Position(s): First base, second base
• Bats / Throws: Left / Right
• 2025 opening day age: 27
• Height / Weight: 5-foot-10 / 175 pounds
• How acquired: Via trade with the Miami Marlins in May 2024
• Contract status: Will make $14 million in 2025 in his last year of arbitration eligibility; will be a free agent after the season.
• fWAR in 2024: 1.1
• Key 2024 stats: .314 avg., .346 OBP, .392 SLG, 4 HRs, 46 RBIs, 83 runs, 24 walks, 29 strikeouts, 9 steals (150 games, 672 plate appearances)

 

STAT TO NOTE

• 23.7 — The percentage of hard-hit balls of Arraez in 2024, the second-lowest rate of his career and ranking the bottom 1% of the majors.

 

TRENDING

• Idle — A career .323 hitter, Arraez won his first batting title with the Minnesota Twins in 2022 (.316) and his second the following year (.354) after a trade to the Miami Marlins. He was off to a slow-for-him start to 2024 when the Marlins pulled the plug on the season in early May, trading him to the Padres for 2023 first-rounder Dillon Head, prospects Jakob Marsee and Nathan Martorella and Korean reliever Woo-Suk Go. The piece for the top of the lineup made sense in San Diego, but what made the deal especially attractive was the Marlins also paying the rest of Arraez’s salary above the league minimum. The trade to a contender re-invigorated Arraez, who was hitting .299/.347/.372 through his first 33 games and immediately collected four hits in his Padres debut. Arraez went on to hit .391/.414/.455 through his first 26 games for the Padres, only to have two injuries knock him off that wave. First, Arraez jammed his shoulder on June 2 in Kansas City. Later in the month, he tore a ligament in his left thumb. Arraez never went on the injured list, but it was clearly a hindrance as he was hitting .259/.283/.327 over 34 games heading into his third All-Star selection. Arraez opted to rest the thumb over playing in the Midsummer classic and that appeared to play into a second-half bounce (.321/.353/.416) that helped Arraez become the first player to ever win batting titles with three different teams. He went 3-for-9 with three singles in NL wild-card series, but Arraez was a non-factor in the NLDS (.182/.182/.182).

 

2025 OUTLOOK

• Arraez underwent surgery after the season to repair the ligament in his thumb and is expected to be ready for spring training. It remains to be seen whether that happens in San Diego as Arraez has agreed to a $14 million salary for 2025 for a team that is apparently up against its spending limit for the season, still has several holes to address and might see Arraez’s pay to be a bit too steep for a one-trick pony (see stat to note). Weary of trades each of the previous two seasons, Arraez said he wants to play in San Diego, but he’s one of the names that’s been rumored to be available this offseason.

 

 

Roster rankings

• 9. INF Xander Bogaerts
• 10. RHP Robert Suarez
• 11. INF Jake Cronenworth
• 12. RHP Jason Adam
• 13. RHP Joe Musgrove
• 14. Adrián Morejón
• 15. RHP Jeremiah Estrada
• 16. RHP Matt Waldron
• 17. INF Eguy Rosario
• 18. RHP Randy Vásquez
• 19. RHP Bryan Hoeing
• 20. LHP Yuki Matsui
• 21. RHP Sean Reynolds
• 22. C Luis Campusano
• 23. RHP Alek Jacob
• 24. OF Tirso Ornelas
• 25. RHP Ryan Bergert
• 26. RHP Henry Baez
• 27. LHP Omar Cruz
• 28. OF Brandon Lockridge
• 29. LHP Tom Cosgrove
• 30. RHP Stephen Kolek
• 31. RHP Juan Nuñez
• 32. C Brett Sullivan
• 33. UT Tyler Wade
• 34. LHP Wandy Peralta