Will the Padres Trade Luis Arraez? Insider Answers

San Diego Padres first baseman Luis Arraez is one of the best contact hitters in baseball, but as the trade deadline nears, the question of how other teams value him comes to mind.

Padres insider Dennis Lin of The Athletic spoke on the likelihood of a clubhouse favorite being flipped ahead of the deadline.

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"It doesn’t seem likely. Most other teams already don’t value him as much as the Padres do," Lin writes.

Arraez is in a league of his own when it comes to smart at-bats. He has the lowest strikeout rate in baseball, at a microscopic 2.3 percent (the next lowest batter is at 6.9 percent) and he rarely swings and misses, doing so just 4.4 percent of the time, also the leader in MLB.

For reference, the second-lowest whiff percentage is 9.4 percent.

Arraez is clearly something special, but perhaps it's a good thing that other teams around MLB aren't valuing him to the same degree as the Friars. What he brings to the batter's box is just as important as what he brings to the fabric of the team's culture.

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“I’m taking him on any of my teams any year, any time, especially as a teammate and a friend,” superstar center fielder Jackson Merrill said to Lin towards the end of last season. “He’s unbelievable.”

Manager Mike Shildt also spoke to Lin on how Arraez lifts up others around him.

“His energy, his passion, his dedication, his preparation are all very elite. They’re very elite,” Shildt said. "He’s rising our tide.”

Perhaps the most accurate perspective comes from Joe Musgrove. As a pitcher, he knows first hand how frustrating an Arraez-type hitter can be.

“I know the singles hitter isn’t really valued as much in this game, but as a starting pitcher, it’s exhausting facing guys like that,” Musgrove said. “Guys that don’t swing and miss, that don’t chase a lot, that are constantly on base — that wears you down over the course of an outing. It adds pitches to your outing. It makes you make more stressful pitches with guys on base. So, although it might not provide the instant runs that slug does, I feel like it’s extremely valuable.”

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