Recently, the San Francisco Giants signed free agent Luis Arraez to a $12 million deal. They did so because Arraez is one of the most consistent hitters on the market.
However, he has one fault that he is open about. On Tuesday, Arraez spoke about his approach at the plate and made quite the admission, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area.
“I hate strikeouts.”
Who could argue with that? Nevertheless, Arraez has made it a point to be as disciplined at the plate as possible. He currently has a career strikeout rate of 6.8%, one of the lowest in the game. During the 2024 season, he had a strikeout rate of 4.3%.
Furthermore, Arraez has only struck out 215 times in his career.
Arraez will be playing second base this season and rocking the No.1. He brings a decent amount of hitting pedigree to the Giants. In 2022 and 2023, he won the Silver Slugger Award as part of the Minnesota Twins and Miami Marlins.
Last season, Arraez played for the San Diego Padres. Last June, he became the first player since 2004 to have 100+ plate appearances without a strikeout.
In September, Arraez captured his 1,000th career hit with a grounder up the middle against the Baltimore Orioles.
Additionally, Arraez was an MLB All-Star from 2022 to 2024. Altogether, he has a lifetime batting average of 316 along with 1,028 hits, 36 home runs, and 308 RBIs.
This past year, the Giants finished with a record of 81-81 and third in the NL West Division. They missed the playoffs. The last time San Francisco was in the postseason was in 2021, when they lost to the LA Dodgers in the Division Series.
