Luis Arraez Is Slumping: How Concerned Should We Be?

When Dave Dombrowski traded for the top rental bat at the trade deadline, second baseman Luis Arraez, the Phillies were rightfully excited over what Arraez could do. He has elite abilities to put bat to ball and get on base because of it, in any circumstance. The Phillies lineup has had constant struggles of getting guys on base and timely hitting; Arraez’s abilities created an opportunity to change both those issues immediately upon joining the Phillies lineup.

However, now nine games into Arraez’s tenure as a Philly, that positive addition has turned into frustration.

In 105 games with the San Francisco Giants this season, Arraez hit .324 with a .801 OPS; his batting average led the National League when he joined Philly. However, Arraez is currently one for his last 19 and has a measly .200 average with the Phillies. Heading into Wednesday’s finale against the St. Louis Cardinals, Arraez was in the midst of one of the worst hitless streaks of his career, being hitless in his last 15 at-bats, his longest stretch since 2021.

What this caused was the value of Arraez’s hitting ability, one that was made known in his debut Nationals series, where he went 5-13 with four RBIs, has been totally overshadowed by the Phillies seemingly having a curse that causes every batter to be a three true outcomes player. A style of hitting that players like Arraez, Justin Crawford, or Bryson Stott don’t fall into, so they fail to hit well when attempting to play that style of baseball.

The first thought is not to overreact to this slump. Yes, his 0-15 is one of the worst of his career and the worst in five years. However, he is a hitter that has consistently maintained an elite contact ability throughout his career. That hasn’t gone away; in his nine games, he’s only struck out twice, which, yes, seems like a lot for a guy who only struck out 21 times in 105 games as a Giant; it still is not a large number in a nine-game stretch. He has continued to put the ball in play; unfortunately, he has not had the luck of those actually becoming hits.

What that means, though, is that Arraez is the type of player that will break out of his slump sooner rather than later. Simply because the more you put balls in play, the more likely the balls will get down for hits. To say hitting coach Kevin Long is bad at his job and infected Arraez’s style of play is imprudent and doesn’t truly tell the story.

What does tell the story was made clear by interim manager Don Mattingly‘s vote of confidence post Tuesday’s loss to St. Louis about having Arraez in clutch situations: “No doubt, he’s the guy you want up there in those spots all the time”.

Arraez took that vote of confidence and showed us fans in Wednesday’s finale that he can get out of the slump sooner rather than later.

In an important fourth inning at bat with Bryce Harper at second and the Phillies struggling the whole series, and the Toronto series this past weekend, with an inability to hit with runners in scoring position. Arraez decided to end that issue for at least a moment with a game-tying RBI double down the right field line.

A very positive sign to see in what ended up being a very grim series for the Phillies. Arraez cannot be the only one producing offensively; no hitter in the league can be the lone offensive producer.

Arraez has a good opportunity to build on the minor win he got in the finale, and in a game like baseball, minor losses can cause major stumbles, like what led to Arraez’s current slump, but minor wins can lead to big-time hot stretches. And Arraez is a player who can make a very small win like an RBI double in a blowout loss into a major heater for himself, which would do nothing but help the Phillies.

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