Compared to the 2025 Rockies, Arr\u00e1ez would have led the team in AVG by a good margin and also would have finished second in OBP just behind Tyler Freeman (for more on OBP check out Renee Dechert\u2019s Rockpile<\/a> from Tuesday). He also had 31 more hits than Hunter Goodman. What comes up as the biggest reason for him to sign with the Rockies is the team\u2019s notable strikeout problems.<\/p>\n Colorado had the highest strikeout rate and lowest OPS of any team in the Majors. So, why not plug in a player that had a 3.5% strikeout rate last season \u2014 the lowest any hitter has had since Tony Gwynn in 1995. Arr\u00e1ez struck just 21 times in 675 plate appearances. The Rockies had 21 players with at least 21 strikeouts on the year with Blaine Crim striking out 22 times over 15 games. In 53 career plate appearances at Coors Field, Arr\u00e1ez has never struck out at Coors Field.<\/p>\n Arr\u00e1ez also doesn\u2019t walk a ton, but the fact that his career walk rate is double that of his strike out rate is already an asset that could entice the Rockies.<\/p>\n But, obviously, contact is his forte. Arr\u00e1ez possesses the ability to spray the ball from line to line. His spray chart shows that he favors going the opposite way while what little power he has is to his pull side.<\/p>\n He also ranks in the 100th percentile in squaring up the ball and whiff rate. In his career, he has swung at 46.4% of pitches while making contact 93.6% of the time. It\u2019s almost mind-boggling to comprehend just how efficient he is at putting the ball in play. How is he able to do it?<\/p>\n Well, part of it is rooted in his bat tracking. As I\u2019m mentioned before, players with a slower bat speed and a shorter swing length typically will have a higher batting average while players with a high bat speed and longer swing will have more power along with strikeouts. Arr\u00e1ez averaged 62.6 mph in bat speed last season, quite a bit lower than the 71.7 mph league average. His swing length sits at 6.0 feet, a whole foot shorter than the league average.<\/p>\n So while there is little power for Arr\u00e1ez, the extremes he posseses on the spectrum make him a contact machine destined to be on base one way or another. His ability to get the bat to the ball also hasn\u2019t exploded in an overabundance of groundballs as he sits at a 42.5% rate, which is just a few ticks higher than the league average 42.3%.<\/p>\n With an apparent opening at first base and a need to cut down on the swing-and-miss tendencies of the roster, Arr\u00e1ez could be a helpful piece for the Rockies young roster heading into the 2026.<\/p>\n But why should Paul DePodesta and the Rockies give pause?<\/p>\n Well, that\u2019s what makes Arr\u00e1ez\u2019s free agency so interesting. It\u2019s going to a be a case study of what teams in the modern game of baseball value and percieve as value.<\/p>\n ESPN\u2019s Jeff Passan wrote, \u201cTeams can\u2019t help but see Arr\u00e1ez for everything he isn\u2019t. Like, a passable defender. Or a source of power. Or even a halfway decent baserunner.\u201d<\/p>\n MLB.com\u2019s Mike Petriello chimed<\/a> in, \u201cIt all goes to show that teams will look at the total package, and not just \u201cdo you make contact,\u201d because we\u2019re talking about baseball players, not strikeout-avoiders.\u201c<\/p>\n Therein lies the predicament for Arr\u00e1ez. Sure, he makes a ton contact, but is one player enough to move the needle for the rest of a lineup that strikes out too much? What good is his ability to get hits if he is the one always being stranded or hitting with too few players on the bases?<\/p>\n There is an argument to be had that he hasn\u2019t quite been deployed properly in the lineup. Arr\u00e1ez has typically spent his time in the top two spots of the lineup. While team\u2019s are increasingly more likely to place their top hitters in the two-hole, Arr\u00e1ez was regularly hitting there for the Padres this last season and had the fourth-most plate appearances in the league there.<\/p>\n The results weren\u2019t all that shining as the Padres two-hole hitters ranked:<\/p>\n As Petriello argues, \u201cMostly, it didn\u2019t set up Arr\u00e1ez to succeed based on his skillset, because a low-powered bat who doesn\u2019t get on base that often just shouldn\u2019t be hitting second or leading off, as he did 11 additional times.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben Clemens of FanGraphs pointed out last year that the notion that \u201ca hit is better than a walk\u201d is inheriently flawed, especially because a hit is often meaningless with no one on base. Nearly 56% of Arr\u00e1ez\u2019s plate appearances last season came with no one on base. Petriello goes on to theorize that Arr\u00e1ez would be better placed hitting third, with hopefully better hitters in front of him to be on base, or lower in the lineup where he is getting fewer plate appearances all together.<\/p>\n There is also the fact that Arr\u00e1ez has little to no power. He hit a career-high 10 home runs back in 2022, but typcially sits in the four to eight range. His slugging is bouyed by the doubles he can collect, but home runs are more valued in baseball in this day and age.<\/p>\n Of course, we also have to take into account his bad fielding and liability on the bases. He has been scored with a -5 Fielding Run Value, -9 Outs Above Average due to his poor range, -9 Batting Run Value, -1 Baserunning Run Value, and has an average sprint speed of 26.5 feet per second.<\/p>\n Perhaps there are things that DePodesta values more as the Rockies enter a new era, but would they be even willing to pay the asking price? Arr\u00e1ez is projected to earn $14.1 million annually on a deal in the two-to-three-year range<\/a>, which seems too much money for a such a one-note player, especially for the rebuilding Rockies.<\/p>\n All in all, there is certianly value and solid reasoning to add Arr\u00e1ez but the price and fit has to be right. A team has to have the right tools and philosophy to get the most out production out of him. If this was a different era of baseball he would be a hot commodity, but the reality is he was born to play in a different time.<\/p>\n Could the Rockies go after him and get some value? Sure, but they may be better served just saving the money and teaching Tyler Freeman how to play first base.<\/p>\n What you need to know as Rockies execs head to the Winter Meetings | MLB.com![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Capture.png\"\/)
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<\/a>Thomas Harding breaks down a few things that could be of importance as the Winter Meetings get underway this weekend. Namely, the club may need to look for veterans to plug into the infield, Brenton Doyle and Victor Vodnik could be trade chips, what is the timeline for Charlie Condon, and the prospects of the Rule-5 Draft and what is could mean for the Rockies.<\/p>\n