Luis Arraez had surgery today to repair a torn ligament in his thumb. The three-time All-Star announced the news himself on X, while Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase added that the Padres expect to have him back at full health in time for spring training.
Arraez had been playing through the pain since mid-June, when he tore a ligament in his left thumb on a slide into third base. He sat out the All-Star Game to rest the injured digit but otherwise played in 70 of the Padres’ final 78 games and all seven of their postseason contests. However, he knew surgery would be necessary if he was going to make a proper recovery, and once the Padres were eliminated from the playoffs, he went under the knife.
With an NL-best .314 batting average, Arraez claimed his third consecutive batting title this season, but his overall numbers weren’t nearly as impressive as they’ve been in the recent past. After putting up an .829 OPS and 130 wRC+ from 2022 to ’23, Arraez produced a .739 OPS and 109 wRC+ in 2024. Those are still above-average numbers, but that level of offense isn’t great coming from a poor defensive first baseman/terrible defensive second baseman. And unfortunately, Arraez can’t blame all of his struggles on his thumb; he hit .310 with a 106 wRC+ before the injury and .319 with a 113 wRC+ after. At the same time, that’s not to say the torn ligament didn’t have any effect. His Statcast expected wOBA on contact fell from .335 before the injury to .312 afterward. It’s possible the pain from the injury prevented him from hitting the ball quite as hard.
Despite his down year, Arraez should be one of the highest-paid arbitration-eligible players next season, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting a $14.6MM salary for the infielder in 2025. It’s his final year of team control, so he’ll look to get back to full strength and perform more like his 2022-23 self, either to earn a bigger contract in free agency or an extension from San Diego. The Padres will hope for the same, since the best version of Arraez can be an excellent table-setter atop the lineup in front of hitters like Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, and Jackson Merrill.
wallabeechamp
Arraez needs to hit behind guys like Tatis & Merrill instead of clogging up the base paths in front of them.
Gwynning
I’d rather have ducks on the pond for Tati and Manny. Merrill batted 7th more often than not… are you suggesting the 3-time consecutive batting champ bat 8th or something more akin to Merrill-Tatis-Arraez 1-2-3? Arraez isn’t a run producer/extra base hit guy (RBI man), per se.
mlb1225
Guys like Arraez, you either bat them leadoff or 9th. There’s nothing wrong batting the guy with the second best OBP on your team leadoff.
Old York
@wallabeechamp
Arraez is more of a get on base guy for the other guys. He isn’t a power hitter so you’d rather he gets a single or double for one of their power guys to drive him in.
JoeBrady
I think Tatis, Merrill and Machado have to be 2-3-4 in some order. Once you eliminate those three, then Arraez makes sense as #1 based on OBP/OPS, while Bogaerts makes more sense #5 since he can occasionally go deep and punish the other team if they pitch around the SD #4.
FemboySportsFan!
Honestly, Luis is one of the most overrated players in the league, all he really does is hit for average…barely gets any XBH’s, his OPS is always low, he doesn’t drive in runners, cant run, cant field….he is barely valuable to his team.
Jm207* 2
Definitely a 1 trick pony.
I Believe We Can Win
Get gets on base ahead of power hitters. Thats his job and he’s good at it.
He doesn’t walk but he doesn’t strike out. He struck out like 18 times all year.
mlb1225
“”He can’t throw and he can’t field, but what can he do? Guys, check your reports or I’m gonna point at Pete”
Cam
He struck out 29 times – the 18 number you’re thinking of, is how many double plays he grounded into, which is quite incredible when you consider two-thirds of his at-bats were with no one on base.
He’s never seen a pitch he won’t swing at – even if it’s bad contact.
I Believe We Can Win
He struck out 18 times with the padres. Wasn’t looking at his Miami stats.
numberoneslayerfan
1 tool player
James Midway
We don’t need him to slug. We need him to get on ahead of the big bats. He does that. He can run I guess he isn’t as fast as De La Cruz but he can still get around the bases. He made great defensive plays at 1st all year.
These tired tropes that he can run and field are just that. All these people that bash him would love to have him leading off for their team.
Pads Fans
.372 career OBP. League average speed and league average defense at 2 positions. Current FA value projected at 5/62-64.
Can Padres get a slight discount because he is coming off surgery and he has said he would like an extension? With an team option year at the end that would give him a higher AAV if exercised, but would not count towards CBT payroll now?
5/55 with $15 million option year and $1 million buyout? Saves Padres $4 million on CBT payroll.
Cam
The amount of chat that surrounds Arraez is crazy, when you consider Luis Rengifo reached base at a better clip this year. Just saying.
JSC Cubbs
Lou Ferrigno may not of got on much, but he has insane power when it matters.
layventsky
Sadly, old-school baseball minds don’t care about walks unless you’re a pitcher.
Pads Fans
Rengifo played in 78 games. Maybe if he played more people would pay attention.
Cam
And yet he still managed to be more productive than Arraez did in 150 games.
James Midway
Cam Rengifo had a higher percentage of getting on base in 76 games. Arraez had more hits by far.
Pads Fans
And yet Rengifo is still not mentioned by anyone.
Maybe because Rengifo is injured every season. Maybe because Arraez (13.6) has more than double the WAR as Rengifo (5.7) over the past 4 seasons and they are the same age with the same service time.
FanDan
He’ll be ready for his new team. Can’t see San Diego paying him almost $15 M.
Pads Fans
All except for the fact that the managing partner and the GM both said that he would be back in 2025. Sadly for you, they are the ones that make the decisions about who plays for the Padres.
FanDan
Do tell. Please share your source.
Pads Fans
Stop being a lazy bleep. Google is your friend. Or maybe actually READ the articles on this website and the ones they link to. Or do you just come here to comment and only read the headlines before sharing your “opinion”?
iron
Is Arraez the only player to lead the league in BA that ended the season on 3 different teams?
Pads Fans
Yes.
Mercenary.Freddie.Freeman
.314 avg with a bad thumb? Impressive
Pads Fans
He tore a ligament in his thumb in mid-June, making it painful to grip a bat, and hit .321/.353/.416/.769 with a 116 OPS+ in the 2nd half.
Has to make you excited about what a healthy Arraez can do in 2025 if you are a Padres fan.
Oh, and LEO, he is exactly league average for his career as a 1B and a -1 DRS at 2B. Post COVID he is a +4 2B and again exactly league average as a 1B. Look at actual stats. Pay attention. Your opinion doesn’t matter nor does what writers say.
Cam
-5 DRS across 1B and 2B this season, in only 872 innings. And incredibly, he’s in the 1st percentile (!!) for range.
But since you want to look at his whole career, he’s -51 Outs Above Average across the board.
Honestly, the Pads would probably be better off giving you a glove.
Pads Fans
You do realize that you need a minimum of 400 games or 2500 innings played to measure defensive performance with DRS, right?
Oh, you mean you think you can tell from 39 games and 339 innings at 2B?
Please stfu. You are embarrassing yourself.
Cam
If there needs to be a minimum of 400 games or 2,500 innings to measure DRS, why did you quote his DRS at 1B despite the fact he’s only played 146 games and 1,152 innings there in his career?
You had a go at the Author of this MLBTR post in a completely condescending and disrespectful way, only to go ahead and undermine your own argument.
Pads Fans
Buh bye. I have limited time for morons and you have proved that you are.
Brew’88
The trade for Arraez was interesting. I don’t think the Padres gave up much at all in terms of prospects, but the cherry on top was to get Marlins to pay his salary in 2024.
Acoss1331
So Luis gave the thumbs up to the doctor to get surgery done.
I’ll see myself out.
neo
Time to trade him as his value will never be higher as a batting champ 3 years in a row.
…for 3 different teams.
Smacky
Tatis gave him the ringworm.
Butter Biscuits
Dylan Cease and Arraez to the mariners for Luis Castillo and Luke raley
FanDan
Castillo costs too much.
Butter Biscuits
He would be cheaper than cease and arraez combined. Raley is on team control js
Brew’88
The Padres dealt with a lot of injuries this year, but have most guys back next year. With better luck on health, look out.
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