SCOTTSDALE—A little over an hour after the Luis Arráez deal was announced, the veteran second baseman stood on the edge of an infield at Scottsdale Stadium and watched as Ron Washington carefully placed a towel and a bag of training gloves on the grass.
For twenty minutes, Arráez went through drills with Washington, the new infield coach and one of the best in that department that the game has ever seen. He mostly was on his knees, fielding one soft grounder after another, focusing on his hand placement and where he snagged the ball. It was a monotonous drill, one that Washington has used for years to mold some of the game’s best infielders.
“That’s the move,” Washington said near the end of one particularly sharp round. “That’s the move.”
Arráez fielded one last grounder as Washington smiled.
“That’s the move!” the coach yelled.
It was no coincidence that Arráez’s first extended workout as a Giant was spent mostly with Washington. There is no doubt that the three-time batting champ will hit, but Arráez — still in his prime at 28 — had to sign a one-year prove-it deal with the Giants because of industry-wide concerns about his defense.
Most teams viewed him as a first baseman or DH, and he doesn’t have the prototypical power for either spot. The Giants promised he could start at his second base and Arráez said that made the difference as he weighed their offer with multi-year deals elsewhere.
“They trust me,” he said Tuesday. “They want me to go out there and play my natural position.”
Arráez started there just 10 times last season with the San Diego Padres, but that didn’t bother Giants officials. President of baseball operations Buster Posey said new bench coach Jayce Tingler gave a strong report on Arráez from their time together in Minnesota, and shortstop Willy Adames vouched for what he can bring to a clubhouse.
“I think we’re all really optimistic about (Washington) getting Luis into a good spot defensively, and then the bat, I mean, he’s the best bat-to-ball guy in all of baseball,” Posey said. “You look at the strikeout rate last year. He’s won three batting titles. I know we don’t get as excited about batting titles as we used to, but to win three batting titles by age 28 is pretty remarkable. I think he’s going to fit into our lineup really well.
“As far as the defense, it’s not going to be for a lack of effort and work on his part and (from) the coaching staff.”
Arráez ranked in the fourth percentile in range last season and has been worth negative-20 Outs Above Average at second base the past three seasons, but Posey said the staff is confident in his aptitude and work ethic, and their metrics show his first step is fine.
“We felt comfortable that there was a solid foundation there for a guy that could play second base well,” Posey said.
If Arráez can hold up at his natural position, it’ll deepen a lineup that now is built around the infield thanks to Posey, who also signed Adames and traded for Rafael Devers. Arraez said his preference is to hit leadoff, but mostly he just wants to be in the lineup every day. Manager Tony Vitello said it’s possible Arráez is his leadoff hitter.
“He’s comfortable with it,” Vitello said. “I like debates. We’ve had a bunch of texts, calls, whether it’s players or coaches, guys throwing out their own theories. Let’s play some ball during spring training and have a little better feel of the here and now.”
Vitello won’t get many games early on to evaluate Arraez, who will represent Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. The second baseman said he is close to fellow Venezuelans Pablo Sandoval and Gregor Blanco, and the latter gave a ringing endorsement of the organization as Arráez was sorting through free agency. He also was drawn to a roster full of players he’s familiar with and the fact that the Giants have a history of winning rings.
A lot has changed in the industry since the last one, though. Hitters are judged on advanced metrics these days, not batting average, and by one measure — wRC+ — Arráez was roughly a league-average hitter last season despite batting .292.
Posey, a former batting champion himself, knows the industry valued Arráez much differently than he did this winter. But he has tried to bring balance to the lineup by adding contact hitters, and Arráez, who last season had the lowest strikeout rate since Tony Gwynn, is at the top of that list.
Asked about his hitting philosophy Tuesday, Arráez smiled. “I hate strikeouts, he said.”
“I’m a big believer in being the aggressor,” Posey said. “I think offensively it’s hard to be the aggressor if you’re not putting the ball in play. Now, I also think part of the reason I feel that way is that contact hitters for us right now do balance out some of the other profiles of the hitters that we have. I’m not going to sit here and say that I believe that you build a lineup strictly with contact hitters.
“I think I draw a little bit on my playing experience, as well. The best teams I was on, when you get to the playoffs and you’re facing the toughest pitchers, the teams that can put the ball in play and force the defense to make plays are usually in a better position than the ones that are going to strike out 15-16 times a game.”
Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast