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The San Diego Padres brought in Luis Arraez in a trade with the Miami Marlins in the early part of the 2024 season, and he is hoping to be a big part of the offense after being hampered by a thumb injury last season. Arraez said he is feeling good as he reports to Spring Training for the 2025 season.
“It affected me a lot, because I use my hands a lot,” Luis Arraez said, via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. “I stay inside-out. But I couldn't use it last year. This year … I don't feel anything in my thumb. Good sign. I think it's a lot of problems [for] the pitchers this year.”
Arraez has won the batting title three seasons in a row, and he is known for his high batting average and on-base percentage. In 2022 with the Minnesota Twins, he has a .316 batting average with a .375 on-base percentage, and followed that up with a .354 batting average with a .393 on-base percentage. In 2024, Arraez had a .314 batting average and .346 on-base percentage, which is still good, but a stark fall off from the prior two seasons. It would make sense if the thumb injury played a part there.
Luckily, Arraez said he does not feel any lingering effects when he takes batting practice this year so far in Padres camp.
“I got jammed yesterday, and I didn't feel anything,” Arraez said. “That's a good sign. … I feel like I got a new thumb.”
The Padres were not very active this offseason, with the signing of Nick Pivetta perhaps being their most notable transaction. The Padres on paper should still be very competitive in what should be a stacked national league. Improvement from Arraez after recovering from his injury would be significant, especially when it comes to competing with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League.
