SAN FRANCISCO -- Luis Arraez has three batting titles to his credit and should be firmly in the mix for a fourth one this season. But that might not be the only hardware that could be attainable for the 29-year-old veteran.
Once labeled a defensive liability at second base, Arraez has completely flipped the narrative by turning himself into one of the best fielding infielders in the Majors this season. Arraez entered Friday tied for second (+8) in fielding run value among big league second basemen, trailing only Cardinals rookie JJ Wetherholt (+15).
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Giants infield coach Ron Washington isn’t a big analytics guy, but he believes Arraez has made enough defensive strides to put himself in the conversation for his first career Gold Glove Award.
“No doubt about it,” Washington said. “But he's going to have some competition. There's a lot of competition in the National League at second base. He’s just got to continue what he's doing right now until it's normal baseball and then see where the chips fall. But he can't be thinking about, ‘I want to win a Gold Glove. I want to do this.’ He’s got to go out there and do the work. Do the work, and then at the end, the reward will be there.”
Other accolades are already beginning to surface for Arraez, who earned his fourth career All-Star nod after batting .326 with an .823 OPS, four home runs and 35 RBIs over his first 88 games for the Giants. He’ll be joined at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday night by San Francisco right-hander Logan Webb, who will be making his third consecutive trip to the Midsummer Classic.
“I’m proud of Luis, he deserves it,” Washington said. “He works his butt off. That was a goal of his when he came into Spring Training. And all I told him was, ‘If you want it, you're going to have to work for it.’ And from that day forward, he worked for it. He was out every day working to try to get better.
“He already had the skill set. It wasn’t like I transformed him, or he got transformed into this second baseman that wasn't already in him. What you see was already in him. The San Francisco Giants have given him an opportunity to let it come out.”
Arraez bet on himself when he decided to turn down multiyear offers and accept a one-year, $12 million contract from the Giants, who were the only team that was willing to give him a chance to return to second base in 2026. The deal was met with some skepticism around the industry, but manager Tony Vitello said Arraez started to prove people wrong as soon as he reported to Arizona for Spring Training.
“I was getting bombarded with, ‘That's not going to work,’” Vitello said. “I was kind of more of a blank slate. ‘Let's see what we got.’ And when you were watching him work in Arizona, you were impressed. It's carried over.”
Webb, one of the premier ground-ball artists in the Majors, has been among the biggest beneficiaries of Arraez’s defensive turnaround and praised his fellow All-Star for his dogged commitment to improving with the glove.
“Luis is probably one of the hardest workers I've been around,” Webb said. “I’ve been around a lot of them, but I think just his willingness to learn, to try to get better. I think it started day one in Spring Training, going out there every day with Wash. When you see him every day out here doing the drills that they do. The work ethic was always there. I think just getting around Wash and really just putting his nose into it has been really fun to watch.”
Arraez credited his former Twins teammate Nelson Cruz for helping to shape his work ethic, though he said he also draws inspiration from the 74-year-old Washington, who continues to run Giants infielders through his legendary drills every day before games.
“He's still working, dude,” Arraez said. “He’s still working. He never stopped. He’s got the same energy every day. He's smiling every day. He knows baseball is hard. He knows our bodies are not the same every single day. And then he's coming here every day to work with us.”
While he’s been the Giants’ most consistent performer on both sides of the ball, Arraez could find himself on the move in the coming weeks, as he’s viewed as an obvious trade chip ahead of the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline. Regardless of what might lie ahead, Arraez is relishing the chance to star at his natural position for the Giants.
“We had another opportunity to work hard and try to do my best at second base, and that's what I’m doing right now,” Arraez said. “Try to be Luis Arraez, try to compete, try to do the little thing to help the team win.”