{"id":396685,"date":"2026-07-13T16:23:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T16:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/396685\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T16:23:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T16:23:22","slug":"how-luis-arraezs-defensive-turnaround-propelled-him-to-all-star-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/396685\/","title":{"rendered":"How Luis Arraez’s defensive turnaround propelled him to All-Star game"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Ron Washington<\/a> demanded more.<\/p>\n

Washington, the infield guru with a history of transforming defenders, described Luis Arraez\u2019s<\/a> first couple of days at Giants<\/a> spring training as \u201cscattered.\u201d To Washington\u2019s recollection, Arraez would show up ready to work one morning in Scottsdale, then wouldn\u2019t be available the next morning. Washington wasn\u2019t playing that game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t work like that. I needed consistency out of him. If I couldn\u2019t get consistency out of him, don\u2019t come. It was just that blunt,\u201d Washington said. \u201cThe next day, he was there. From that day forward, he\u2019s been there. Even today, he was there. Sometimes, you\u2019ve just got to tell them the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

With help from Washington, Arraez\u2019s defense has become the whole truth. And thanks in large part to his stunning transformation with the glove, Arraez is headed to his fourth career All-Star game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really appreciate Wash,\u201d Arraez said. \u201cHe\u2019s like my grandfather right now. I love him. I just want to say God bless him and I have to enjoy him right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s impressive because of where he\u2019s at in his career,\u201d Washington said. \u201cHe\u2019s got about seven, eight years in the big leagues. Usually, when guys get to that point in their career in the big leagues, they\u2019ve settled in with how they want their careers to be, but he still wants more. That\u2019s impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arraez\u2019s evolution on defense has been one of the most stunning developments in the game this season.<\/p>\n

For the first seven years of his career, Arraez\u2019s reputation was that of a below-average defender. From 2019-2025, Arraez was worth -36 outs above average, a range-based defensive metric. In 2023 and 2024, Arraez, 29, spent far more time at first base (1,526 2\/3 innings) than second (421).<\/p>\n

The Giants\u2019 decision to sign Arraez and let him play second base was met with no shortage of doubt. Not only had Arraez been a subpar defender, but San Francisco was filled with groundball pitchers such as Logan Webb and Landen Roupp. For all the skepticism, the team had the ultimate trump card.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has the same energy every day,\u201d Arraez said of Washington. \u201cHe\u2019s smiling every day. He knows baseball is hard. Our bodies aren\u2019t the same every single day, but he\u2019s coming here every single day to work with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

With tutelage from Washington, Arraez has transformed into a legitimate Gold Glove-caliber defender. Arraez enters the All-Star break worth +10 outs above average, second only to the St. Louis Cardinals\u2019 JJ Wetherholt (+16) among second basemen. Arraez is also tied with the Chicago Cubs\u2019 Nico Hoerner for the second-most Fielding Run Value<\/a> \u2014 an all-encompassing defensive metric on a run scale \u2014 among all second basemen at +8, also behind Wetherholt (+15).<\/p>\n

Before every game, Arraez runs through Washington\u2019s famous infield drills, which require a defender to field 96 grounders from an assortment of angles and positions in about four minutes. Arraez has gone some days without committing a single error.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made sure that his mindset was to come in and do whatever it took for him to be that second baseman he knew he wanted to be,\u201d Washington said. \u201cHe\u2019s made the All-Star team and I\u2019m proud of him, but it\u2019s all Louie Arraez. He deserves everything because of the way he worked and his work ethic. He\u2019s got a lot of energy, but the thing is, I know a lot of guys that have energy but still don\u2019t put in the work. This guy\u2019s got energy, and all he wants to do is work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLouie is probably one of the hardest workers I\u2019ve been around,\u201d said Webb, who\u2019s headed to his third All-Star game. \u201cI\u2019ve been around a lot of them, but [he\u2019s had] a willingness to learn and get better. I think it started Day 1 in spring training, going out there every day with Wash.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where Arraez has been most impressive is on short hops, which is where the work with Washington really shines. Arraez has been consistently excellent at vacuuming these tough in-between hops right out of the dirt, often adding a little flair before making his throw.<\/p>\n

Another area where Arraez struggled most as a second baseman was moving laterally to his righ: He was -11 outs above average when moving in that direction before this season. As a Giant, Arraez has been +2 outs above average when moving in that direction.<\/p>\n

Arraez has also had exceptionally quick hands when it comes to turning two, his 49 double plays this season being the most among all second basemen in the National League. Add it all up, and Arraez has been nothing short of a sensational defender with the Giants.<\/p>\n

For all the strides that Arraez has made on defense, Arraez wouldn\u2019t be heading back to the Midsummer Classic without the offense. Following two average\u00a0seasons in 2024 (107 OPS+) and 2025 (102 OPS+), Arraez is in the midst of his best offensive seasons since hitting .354 in 2023.<\/p>\n

Entering the All-Star break, Arraez\u2019s .330 batting average is second in the majors, behind only the Marlins\u2019 Otto Lopez (.334). Arraez\u2019s .460 slugging percentage is only a couple of points off his career high (.469), and he\u2019s on pace to set career-bests in doubles and steals.<\/p>\n

For as well as Arraez has played, his days in San Francisco are likely coming to an end.<\/p>\n

The Giants enter the All-Star break as one of the worst teams in baseball at 41-55 the third-worst record in the National League. They stand to be sellers at the Aug. 3 trade deadline, and there shouldn\u2019t be a shortage of teams vying for Arraez\u2019s services.<\/p>\n

Arraez recently told the San Francisco Standard<\/a> that he would be open to an extension, but with several hefty contracts already on the books, the likelier outcome is that the Giants trade Arraez and continue beefing up the farm system following a fruitful draft.<\/p>\n

Regardless of where Arraez ends this season, \u201cLa Regadera\u201d has officially changed the narrative on his defensive capabilities. For his entire career, Arraez\u2019s value derived solely from his bat. With the help of the game\u2019s best infield coach, Arraez has evolved into the most complete version of himself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Ron Washington demanded more. Washington, the infield guru with a history of transforming defenders, described…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[2135,184,7,32099,23726,402,181,1334,395,101,396,4820,103,102,104,106,105,127],"class_list":["post-396685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-baseball","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-giants-alert","tag-giants-hq","tag-inside-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-peninsula","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-county","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}