Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Luis Arraez has done a tremendous job of making those around him better, but he needs to be better himself.
The Philadelphia Phillies were able to bag arguably the best hitter available at the MLB trade deadline, acquiring second baseman Luis Arraez from the San Francisco Giants.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the Phillies' offense has looked considerably better since his arrival, and we've already gone over the jarring numbers that demonstrate his incredible impact on the lineup.
But as for Arraez himself? Philadelphia could use some more production from him.
Since joining the Phillies a month-and-a-half ago, Arraez is slashing .283/.301/.372 with two home runs and 16 RBI. By contrast, he was slashing .324/.360/.440 with the Giants.
Arraez isn't a home-run hitter. We know that. He topped out at 10 homers with the Miami Marlins back in 2023 and has hit 18 combined dingers since. But where he excels is his ability to consistently get base hits.
The 29-year-old is a three-time batting champion, and thanks to his run in San Francisco this year, he is on his way to winning a fourth. But he hasn't quite looked like the same hitter in Philadelphia.
Arraez has gone 0-for-9 over his last couple of games. He batted .269 in August. He is hitting .283 thus far in September. Bad? No. What you expect from Arraez? Absolutely not.
Arraez's offensive value is almost solely tied to his ability to get base knocks considering he has very limited power. It's why he owns a modest lifetime .775 OPS in spite of batting .316 for his career.
The Venezuelan native also doesn't get on base much outside of hits. He owns a lifetime 6.2 percent walk rate, and he has walked just four times over 153 plate appearances in Philly. So if he isn't slapping the ball around to all parts of the field, his value is significantly diminished.
Now, again, I already acknowledged just how much Arraez has done for the Phillies as a whole. He has made everyone else around him better, and that cannot be understated.
But come playoff time, Philadelphia will need its best contact hitter to actually, you know, get hits. That's what the Phillies got him for, and with Arraez headed toward free agency after the season, they need to squeeze the juice out of him while they still can.
If anyone can go through a torrid stretch where he is racking up multi-hit games left and right, it's Arraez. And he does have five of those this month.
But there is no question we need to see more from the four-time All-Star.
