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Shortly after Luis Arráez began playing for the Padres, in May of 2024, he made sure to walk through Petco Park, past the outfield wall, and onto a public terrace to check out a gorgeous 9½-foot statue depicting the likeness of one of the greatest hitters who ever lived.
“I felt it in my heart,” Arráez said. “My hair was coming up from my arms. Wow.”
It was the Tony Gwynn statue, memorializing “Mr. Padre,” the Hall of Famer to whom Arráez has been compared because of his high batting averages and elite bat-to-ball skills.
“It was a pretty cool moment,” said Gwynn’s son, Tony Gwynn Jr., a Padres broadcaster and former big-league outfielder. “He just wanted to show respect to my pops.”
Arráez, now the Giants’ second baseman, will return to San Diego for a three-game series beginning Monday night. The Padres reached the playoffs in both of Arráez’s seasons, and his hope is to return to October baseball this year, though the Giants dug themselves an early 0-3 hole and scored just one run in their opening series with the Yankees.
Gwynn’s legacy serves as inspiration to the 28-year-old Arráez, who has won three batting titles and is a .317 career hitter, tops among active players. Gwynn was at another level with eight batting crowns and a .338 lifetime average.
That Arráez was accompanied by Gwynn Jr. the day he visited the statue made the experience further heartwarming.
“Tony Gwynn is a symbol for a lot of young players throughout history,” Arráez said. “He tried to hit the ball to the middle, put the ball in play. He didn’t strike out. He helped a lot of people. Not only inside of baseball, but he did a lot of things outside of baseball. He tried to be a good person. He tried to be a leader. He’s really a good example for me.”
When relayed Arráez’s comment, Gwynn Jr. said, “Not only has my dad been a good example for him, but Luis has been a good example for the next generation of hitters coming up.
“I enjoy that young kids who watch him know they don’t have to be this one specific kind of hitter. You can be successful at the major-league level and not be the guy who’s filling up the slug, the way the top dogs do. When you get into the construction of a lineup, pitchers will tell you if a lot of the guys are the same, it’s an easier lineup to pitch to compared with when you get different kinds of guys in the lineup.”
It’s a reason Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey signed Arráez late in the offseason to a one-year, $12 million contract. The Giants have high-strikeout hitters including Willy Adames – his 179 K’s were more than any other Giant in history besides Bobby Bonds (189 in 1970, 187 in 1969) – and Rafael Devers, whose 192 combined K’s in Boston and San Francisco were a career high.
“Some of it is the current personnel that we have, right?” Posey said. “I mean, we’ve got some guys that already have some legit power, and they’re going to have some swing and miss. I think Arráez is a really good fit for us because he does balance out some of those other profiles.”
Luis Arráez was one of only two Giants to record three hits in the team’s opening series against the Yankees. | Source: Brandon Vallance/Getty Images
Despite the fact Arráez hits for a high average and posted a minuscule strikeout rate last season (a mere 3.1%, lowest in the majors since Gwynn in 1995), he remains a polarizing figure in the analytics community and among some front offices. He doesn’t have much speed or power or defensive range (the Padres played him mostly at first base), and his bat speed, hard-hit rate, exit velocities, and launch angles all rank extremely low. Plus he doesn’t walk a lot.
All Arráez does is rack up hits, and he’s even better with runners in scoring position, as his career .349 average attests.
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“We made a big trade to get him, and he played really well for us,” said Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller, who dealt four prospects to the Marlins for Arráez. “We saw the value in Luis. It’s hard to be elite in any one thing in baseball, and you’re talking about one of the best pure hitters. It’s also the competitive spirit, the fight, and what that brings to a team. It’s real.”
Arráez played his first four seasons in Minnesota, won his first batting title in 2022, and got tutored along the way by another Hall of Fame hitter known for his mastery at the plate, seven-time batting champ Rod Carew.
With lessons learned from Carew, who had shared stories of Gwynn, Arráez led the National League in hitting three straight years, winning his second title in 2023 as a Marlin and another in 2024 as both a Marlin and Padre (he was traded to San Diego in early May).
Arráez is presented the Tony Gwynn National League batting champion trophy in March, 2025. | Source: Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images
Arráez said Carew is “like a grandfather to me. He taught me a lot of good things. To hit the ball the other way. To bunt if the third baseman gives you a free base hit. To eliminate the strikeout. And to not try to hit homers. He said homers will come but just find the barrel and run the bases.”
Unfortunately, Arráez never met Gwynn, who died in 2014, five years before Arráez broke into the majors, but he realizes Gwynn’s hitting principles were similar to Carew’s. Make solid contact, go to all fields, and hit ’em where they ain’t.
Arráez led the league in hits the past two years but batted a career-low .292 in 2025 (he still would’ve led all Giants hitters, by far), saying the aftereffects of a concussion he sustained last April caused his numbers to drop. There’s no assurance he’ll hit .300 in San Francisco, a difficult place to swing a bat with the cold and wind, especially for lefties. The Giants have had just two West Coast batting champs, Barry Bonds and Posey.
Arráez wouldn’t mind joining the club.
“There’s a lot of space in the outfield,” he said. “If I hit .300, I’m going to help the team win.”
Arráez considers Tony Gwynn and Rod Carew idols and built his approach at the plate by studying how they hit. | Source: Courtesy of Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres
In nearly every at-bat, Arráez takes the first pitch to map out the pitcher and doesn’t mind two-strike counts. In fact, he embraces them and trusts himself to make contact on every swing. He doesn’t choke up at the plate but does in the on-deck circle and in batting practice because he practices with a heavier bat.
Through it all, Arráez will continue to honor the likes of Gwynn and Carew by trying to live up to their superb skillsets. In fact, in Arráez’s first five seasons through 2023, he was on a Gwynn-like trajectory – he hit .326 (identical to Gwynn’s mark through five seasons) with a .427 slugging percentage (same as Gwynn’s) and .806 OPS (Gwynn’s was .804).
On the other hand, Gwynn already was a Gold Glover by his fifth season with far more steals and triples and a much higher WAR. Plus, Gwynn’s average continued to soar after that. He hit .342 the rest of his career, all the way to 3,141 hits and a front-row seat in Cooperstown.
Arráez is familiar with the accomplishments, having researched Gwynn’s career and approach at the plate and spending time with his son including that memorable day they visited the statue together.
“I just wanted to go out there and meet Tony Gwynn,” Arráez said. “He made so much history with the trophies, the Gold Gloves, the batting titles. It’s nice to know we have a similar game. Not the same. I don’t want to say the same. But I try to do the things he did.”
Naturally, Arráez’s story is appreciated by the younger Gwynn.
“Personally, I’m sad to see him go,” he said. “I loved to watch him on a daily basis. He’s a throwback. Not a lot of guys in the league like him. I think he’ll do great in San Francisco.”