Minnesota Twins MiLB Weekly: Luis Arraez Is Going Unnoticed
Luis Arraez, a Minnesota Twins minor leaguer, is playing extremely well, yet isn’t receiving enough attention.
Second baseman Luis Arraez is playing brilliantly for the Minnesota Twins single-A team, the Cedar Rapids Kernels. This season is already the best of his career.
Yet despite being mentioned quite often, he is still overlooked.
If the season ended today, Arraez would have career highs in every offensive category except batting average, on-base percentage, and on-base plus slugging.
Granted, he is playing in more games and getting more at-bats. Nevertheless, it’s still an impressive year from the 19-year-old.
Arraez ranks among the top-10 players in hits, batting average, OBP, and OPS in the Midwest League. He currently leads the Kernels in runs scored, hits, and doubles.
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It isn’t as if Arraez is having a breakout year, he has slashed .348/.433/.400 and .309/.377/.391 in his two previous seasons.
His RBI to games played ratio is close to 50 percent for his career, and is above the 50 percent mark this season.
Quite impressive for a player who only has two career home runs and has most of his at-bats batting first or second in the order.
Arraez is still being overlooked despite the high offensive numbers and an all-star appearance this season.
Twins prospects whose stock improved in the first half:
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) July 5, 2016
OF Daniel Palka
SP Stephen Gonsalves
OF LaMonte Wade
2B Luis Arraez
SP Felix Jorge
Arraez is just as good with the glove as he is with the bat. He has committed six errors at second base in 59 games, good for a .978 fielding percentage. Compared to all other middle infielders in the Twins organization, Arraez has one of the lowest amount or errors.
His career fielding percentage at second base is .977, which leads me to believe his fielding won’t improve much going forward.
Arraez likely will stay with the Kernels for the remainder of the season. With this great season he’s having, Fort Myers looks to be his 2017 destination.
It’s worth the reminder that he is still 19. He’s the youngest player on the Kernels roster and he’s arguably the team’s best player.
At such a young age, the season Arraez is having comes at a surprise to most. When Arraez is hitting above .300 in 2017 it won’t be anymore and he won’t be as unknown and overlooked as he has been this year.