Monday, May 20, 2019

Contemplating Luis Arraez

The Twins carried Nelson Cruz and his ailing wrist on the active roster for a few days but finally moved him to the injured list and called up infielder Luis Arraez.

The 22-year-old Venezuelan debuted as a mid-game substitution Saturday and got a double; he started Sunday's loss and got a single and a pair of walks.

I saw him a few years ago when he was with Cedar Rapids. Here's what I wrote about him then.

And I'm not sure there's much more to add to it. He's hit on every level (.331 career in the minors), he draws about as many walks as strikeouts, he doesn't hit many homers (six in six professional seasons), and while Dick Bremer said on one of the telecasts that his defense has improved, I'm pretty certain he lacks the arm for third or short. (I do see that he played about as often at third base for Pensacola as he did at second before he moved up to Triple A Rochester.)

The bat-to-ball skill is impressive. Everything else feels a bit light.

The future of the Twins infield is more likely to be built around Jorge Polanco, Royce Lewis and Wander Javier than around Arraez. He might become a major league regular, but I suspect it will require a trade. If he keeps on hitting, and there's no reason to doubt that, he might be a pretty decent trade chip as early as this summer.

No comments:

Post a Comment