Arraez Is Shining

And other tales from the diamond

The season has admittedly gotten off to a sluggish start here at WTP. As I type feverishly from my hot seat, my mind drifts to the newest member of the Padres, two-time batting champion Luis Arraez. He’s hitting .393 in 25 games with his new team. He’s struck out only four times, walked thrice, and while just five of his 42 safeties in a Padres uniform have been extra base hits, his propensity for slapping the ball around the field is infectious. On Friday night, San Diego rattled off seven consecutive singles as part of a nine-run eighth inning.

The Padres acquired Arraez from the Marlins in early May, an unusual though not unreasonable time for a trade. One team added an everyday bat to their lineup, and another team spared its fanbase the indignity of feigning competitiveness while exchanging a present-day asset for an assortment of futures.

All I want out of the trade is an appearance from the San Diego Chicken at a Padres game. After all, the world deserves to see Arraez con Pollo.

In scouting, there’s a danger in seeing a player flash excellence one time and believe he can repeat it. In a 75-pitch start, for example, a minor league hurler could unleash one slider with nasty bite — a pitch that would coax even, say, Luis Arraez into a swing and miss. That one pitch allows an evaluator to dream: With experience, good coaching, and some maturity, this pitcher could put it all together and throw wipeout sliders regularly. The rest of the sliders — the ones that would end up in the second deck of the outfield bleachers if thrown to a Major Leaguer — are inconsequential. That one, though; man, if we can find a way to harness that pitch.

After all, most established stars needed to gain consistency at some point before achieving big-league success (foreshadowing alert: more on this topic coming soon!). Even at the Major League level, we’ve all seen a player dominate for a brief period of time only to flame out quickly due to a lack of contact or wildness.

Newer technology supplements traditional scouting these days: spin rates, extension, bat speed, swing length, and various biomechanical data can assist teams in their evaluations. Still, there’s a prevailing belief among some scouts that if a kid can do something once, he can do it again.

Studying Shakespeare while in college, I was taught that something had to appear or occur twice in text for it to be deemed intentional. One explosive slider didn’t justify a credible thesis in Professor Benston’s class.

During the dog days of the 8U girls spring softball calendar, my daughter delivered a go-ahead two-RBI base hit off one of the most competitive pitchers in the league. In a rare-for-our-times moment, no known video of this clout exists. I was seven miles north of the scene, on the tee ball fields of Carlsbad, when contact was made.

I’m not usually one for the supernatural, but I swear I felt a sensation right around the same time. Yes, it was a vibration from my phone indicating a text message; Mrs. WTP was informing me of our first-born’s blast.

There’s a certain magic created by an event that’s accessible only in the moment. It reminds me of reading a box score and relying upon imagination to provide the color and the action. While I didn’t doubt my daughter’s ability to deliver a big knock, in a league dominated by strikeouts, walks, and hit batters, solid contact that lands beyond the infielders was not exactly expected.

I later learned that her hit came on a 1-2 count. It was a two-RBI single that scored runners from first and second base.

A single that advanced a runner three bases?

These feats were generally reserved for those with the last name Molina. There are probably better ways to explain to your children that speed is hereditary, but Arraez would have been proud. She got the barrel to the ball.

My daughter later explained to me that the batted ball had settled somewhere just beyond and to the right of second base. If she had kept running, she explained, the defender may have been able to tag her out. She stopped so as not to run into the out. That’s my girl.

The season continued for a few more weeks. We reverted to the defensive independent outcomes of walks (many), strikeouts (some) and hit batters (a few). Alas, no real opportunity to repeat her earlier heroics presented itself. Does she have that hitting tool?

Relying on both my scouting experience and Shakespearean studies, I find myself hung up somewhere between Josh Bard and the Bard.

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