Minneapolis – Luis Arráez has had a long journey in baseball since the Minnesota Twins traded him to the Miami Marlins for starter Pablo López. Miami traded Arráez to the San Diego Padres on May 4, 2024, and the Twins played in San Diego last year.

Therefore, it wasn’t until Friday night, nearly three years since his last game at Target Field on September 29, 2022, that Arráez would finally get to play in Minneapolis again.

“When I wake up, I just opened the door and then I told my wife, ‘Wow, this is the team that gave me the opportunity to play baseball,” Arráez said before Friday’s game. “They signed me in 2013 when I was 16 years old, and then this is my first team. I’m excited to be here.”

Arráez quickly became a fan favorite in Minnesota as a rookie on the 101-win Bomba Squad in 2019. He hit .411 in his first 20 games with the Twins and quickly found a role in the everyday lineup, replacing Jonathan Schoop at second base.

However, what Twins manager Rocco Baldelli remembers the most about what separated him as a hitter from the rest of the league was his pinch-hit appearance against Edwin Diaz on July 16, 2019.

Remember when Luis Arraez (@Arraez_21) has one of the best at bats of the #MnTwins season? That was fun. pic.twitter.com/gY4lFkJ1GJ

— Cooper (@CoopCarlson) February 1, 2020

“I think that’s the prevailing moment, the prevailing at-bat, that always comes to mind,” Baldelli said. “Because a lot of his other at-bats and swings, there were tons of them, and they all kind of mirrored each other. He would hit a pretty hard line drive and spray it literally all over the ballpark, time after time. But that at-bat was a pretty special at-bat and one that you haven’t seen anyone else do.”

That was just the start of what was to come over the next three and a half years in a Twins uniform. In 2022, Arráez broke up current teammate Dylan Cease’s no-hit bid on September 3, won the AL batting title with a .316 average, and made the All-Star team with Byron Buxton.

In four seasons with the Twins, Arráez played 389 games and had a .314/.374/.410 slash line, 14 home runs, 132 RBI, 137 walks, and 131 strikeouts. 425 games later, Arráez is pretty much the same player.

Arráez still has a big smile on his face every day. He’s happy to be out on the field, hitting a ton of singles, and most impressively, drawing more walks (26) than strikeouts (15) – better than anyone in baseball. But that million-dollar smile Arráez was shining even brighter on Friday when he returned to the first MLB ballpark he called home and reminisced on those early years.

“They gave me the opportunity, especially the fans,” said Arráez. “The fans, they supported me a lot here, and especially Rod Carew, he’s like my grandfather. I hope he’s here. I want to see him and Tony.

“And Rocco, he’s still there, and a lot of coaches. Borrego, Ramon Borrego was my first manager in my rookie league. He gave me a lot of opportunity, he helped me a lot. He helped me a lot to play defense, to play the game. Ramon is one of my favorite coaches.”

It’s become customary for MLB teams to put together video tributes of their former players who have had a significant impact on the franchise. Arráez was no exception, and he said he was excited to see it.

“Man, I can’t wait,” Arráez said. “I can’t wait until the game starts. It’s a good thing. It’s a good thing because I did a lot of good things here. They know I played hard every day, how I played the game.”

The video tribute was a touching moment as the 20,000 fans in the ballpark gave him a standing ovation, and Arráez responded by air-hugging the crowd.

It was also fitting that it was SpongeBob theme night. All the opposing players had Chum Bucket helmets on the scoreboard display, indicating they were evil, except for Arráez.

I’m wheezing pic.twitter.com/rUN2f00Eo8

— commissioner shayla, twins survivor (@shaylarz) August 30, 2025

How did Arráez return the favor in his first at-bat back at Target Field? He took the first pitch for a strike, then pulled a single past Luke Keaschall at second for a one-out single.

Arráez is in the final year of his contract with the Padres. Baldelli typically doesn’t talk about players’ contract statuses during the season. Still, he knows Arráez will be a one-of-one player on the market this offseason, making him all the more desirable for teams to take a chance on him.

“I’ll tell you this: He’s been so good at what he does, probably the best in the game at what he does,” said Baldelli. “Teams are going to have interest in him one way or the other. I don’t want to get too specific because I don’t know. I frankly don’t know. I do know that there will be a lot of teams that want him coming up to the plate for them.”