SAN DIEGO — Though he’s two teams removed, Luis Arraez remains close with former Minnesota Twins teammates following a difficult departure from the only organization he knew.
As tough as moving on can be, the 2022 batting champion speaks highly of his time with the franchise. After two trades in two years, Arraez understands the business of baseball well.
Still, Arraez may never fully get over the hurt of the January 2022 trade in which the Twins dealt him to the Miami Marlins in exchange for starting pitcher Pablo López.
No matter how much the trade may sting, Arraez has flourished since his departure.
He won the 2023 National League batting title and is vying for a third straight hitting championship with the San Diego Padres. Arraez entered Monday’s series opener against the Twins with an NL-high 151 base hits.
“I cried a lot when (the Twins) traded me,” Arraez said. “It was painful but it’s baseball. I understand. Baseball is a business. … It feels (like) a while because I played last year with Miami. I need to just stay focused. I don’t want to think about that. I want to still stay focused with my team right now.”
Thank you Minnesota twins 🇻🇪🤘🏽🥹❤️🙏🏽🦾 pic.twitter.com/S9NF9NcEg9
— Luis Arraez (@Arraez_21) January 21, 2023
As enjoyable as it was to play in Miami, where he lives in the offseason, Arraez likes his lot in life much better these days.
The Marlins, who play in a mostly empty stadium, entered Monday with the second-worst record in baseball. The Padres, winners in 20 of their past 26 games who routinely play in front of packed crowds, are on the tails of the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.
Alerted that a trade to the Padres was close to done, Arraez was mentally prepared and joined his new club the same day (May 4), going 4-for-6 with two runs and a double in a 13-1 win at Arizona. Despite playing with a sprained thumb, Arraez hits like he always has and entered Monday trailing only Marcell Ozuna by four points in the NL batting race, .309 to .305.
“He’s just a very unique special hitter,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “There’s no one else in the league that does what he does. He’s very good at what he does and it gives people a lot of enjoyment. … It’s hard not to appreciate him as a hitter. He just gets hits at a rate that really nobody else in the game does over the last five, six years.”
Same as Rod Carew and Tony Oliva did with him before, Arraez is open to sharing his knowledge with anyone, including former teammates.
Earlier this summer, Carlos Correa credited Arraez for offering pointers that helped get him going. Correa used those tips when he batted .388/.441/.582 with five home runs and 21 RBIs in June, en route to being named an All-Star for the third time in his career.
“I have to call Arraez,” Correa said. “He gave me good pointers going into the season and I’ve been doing them. He’s the man. He knows what he’s doing. He’s one of my favorite hitters to watch.”
Asked about the advice he offered, Arraez called Correa one of his favorite players. He appreciated how Correa always invited teammates to his hotel suite to talk shop after games.
“(Correa) just wants to talk about baseball,” Arraez said. “I just say to him, ‘Hey, hit the ball to the middle. Try to hit the ball to the middle, left field or right field. You’ve got power. If I’ve got your power, I just try to hit to the middle.’”
Correa isn’t the only Twins player with whom Arraez remains close. Arraez said he’s still friendly with Jose Miranda, Max Kepler, assistant coaches Rudy Hernandez and Luis Ramirez, and Willi Castro even though the two never played together (they’re both big video gamers).
Because he plays games in a different time zone, Arraez also finds himself keeping an eye on his old squad.
“They still are my friends,” Arraez said.
Arraez is clearly fond of the time he spent in an organization that signed him out of Venezuela when he was 16. He still keeps an apartment in Minneapolis and looks forward to returning to Target Field for the first time since he was traded.
“I played my whole career there,” Arraez said. “I never forgot Minnesota. I miss Minnesota. … I can’t wait to go there.”
(Photo of Luis Arraez sliding into third base against the Twins in the first inning of Monday’s game: Gregory Bull / Associated Press)
