Let’s start with the important part of this story: Luis Arraez is having a great season right now. Do all the people who never doubted the front office’s commitment to signing a singles hitter who hadn’t played second base in some time to play second base want to serve crow to those of us who found it to be a very silly idea? Go right ahead. I promise I won’t turn the tables if his season reverses. This post is not about his fielding —

No, but seriously, let’s take a brief detour and spotlight his fielding. +6 Outs Above Average? This stat didn’t exist in 2015 or 2016, but the first year that Joe Panik has Statcast data is 2018 (his final full season with the Giants) and he had a +8 for the entire season. Did Ron Washington retool Luis Arraez’s defense in such a way that they now have their best overall second baseman since Joe Panik (Thairo Estrada’s 5.6 fWAR 2021 season excepted)? That’s an easy list to top, of course, and there’s still a lot of 2026 remaining, but goodness gracious, what a development!

But he’s currently the only Giants regular without a home run. Even Harrison Bader got one before he hit the IL. He’s never had more than 10 in a season (2023) and the only other time he had 0 was in 2020. It’d be a little wacky and probably not a good thing if he hit 0 home runs in a season. In the history of Major League Baseball, there have been 181 second basemen to amass at least 400 plate appearances and hit 0 home runs. Just 77 of those have come in the past 100 years and only 31 in the last 50 years. The only times that has happened this century: Chris Getz (2011 Royals) hit .255/.313/.287 in 429 PA (118 G) and Mickey Morandini (2000 Phillies & Blue Jays) hit .257/.322/.313 in 457 PA (126 G). Luis Castillo managed it for the 1999 Florida Marlins, too, but his triple slash of .302/.384/.366 was much better (despite just a 102 wRC+) and included 50 stolen bases. Luis Arraez has stolen just 35 bases for his career. But let’s dig in a little more to see if it’ll happen:

Look, chances are he’ll sock a few out this season. Dingers aren’t a part of his game, but it’s still a big part of being a big leaguer in the 21st century. He has a career slugging percentage of .412 but over the past three seasons it’s averaging .391. So, a clear decline from his age-22 to 26 seasons (.326/.379/.427) but a very valuable player if he can make the defense at second base work with what is largely a singles-only offensive skillset.