Luis Arráez is ‘a great fit’ for Philadelphia, say Phillies who played with him before trade: ‘He’s going to bring a lot of energy’
Luiz Arráez is coming to Philadelphia. (Brendan Baldwin/Phillies Nation)
PHILADELPHIA — Jesús Luzardo reached out to his longtime friend and old teammate Luis Arráez as soon as the news broke.
On Monday morning, ahead of Major League Baseball’s 6 p.m. trade deadline, the Phillies swung a deal with the San Francisco Giants for Arráez, a three-time batting champion and four-time All Star. The extremely contact-oriented left-handed-hitting second baseman will now join up with Luzardo once again in Philadelphia.
“We talked right away,” Luzardo told Phillies Nation. “He’s excited. He said he’s on his way over. So we’re excited to see him.”
The two former Marlins formed a kinship during parts of two seasons together in Miami. In 2023, the club made the postseason. Luzardo had a breakout year on the mound, and Arráez batted .354 with 203 hits. Arráez was traded during the 2024 season and has since played for the Padres and Giants, while Luzardo was traded to the Phillies before the 2025 campaign. Still, the two have remained close friends.
Luzardo said he appreciates the energy and “good vibes” that Arráez provides. He described the 29-year-old infielder as a “hard worker,” a “great guy” and a “family man.” Arráez attended Luzardo’s wedding in Italy this past offseason. On Tuesday, they’ll reunite as teammates for the rest of the year.
“I just love the guy for how he acts as a professional,” Luzardo said. “But I think he’s going to bring a lot of energy. He’s going to bring really professional at-bats. He doesn’t like to give away at-bats. He takes a lot of pride in — offensively and defensively — the work that he’s done this year. I feel like he’s done a great job of earning that respect on the field defensively. So I think he’s going to be a great fit for us.”
Arráez is batting .324 this season, a mark that leads the National League. He’s not a serious power threat, with only four home runs in 105 games; he’s never hit more than 10 homers in a season. But he has an outlier ability to put the ball in play and rack up hits. Last year, he didn’t add much more than the base hits, with a .719 OPS despite leading the NL with 181 hits. This season, he has a .360 on-base percentage and an .801 OPS, along with improved defense at second. The Phillies were glad to acquire a different dynamic in the form of Arráez.
“Definitely excited for Luis,” interim manager Don Mattingly told reporters. “Not putting too much pressure on him, he’s kind of like the modern-day, for me, Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs. The guy just hits, has always hit, won batting titles. He just continues to do it. Obviously, a huge addition to our lineup.”
Having Arráez in the offensive fold, however, will require some defensive shakeups. Star first baseman Bryce Harper, who continued to express willingness to go back out to right field for the first time since 2022, will shift to the outfield for the remainder of the season. Second baseman Bryson Stott will move from second base to third base, a position he played for a very short bit in 2022. Third baseman Alec Bohm will slide over to first base.
Arráez has experience at first base as well, and placing him there while putting Harper in right could have left Stott and Bohm alone. But it does not seem like that was ever a consideration. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said that the team never discussed the topic with Arráez, who said at the All-Star Game in Philadelphia last month that he would not move away from second base if traded. So second base it will be.
“I think it’s probably more about him and his concerns,” Mattingly said. “So I think that’s fair. I think we knew that, or Dave knew that going in, that that wasn’t really an option for us.”
In the Phillies’ view, the shuffling will be worth it for Arráez’s presence in the batter’s box. In the deal with San Francisco, the club also landed reliever Caleb Kilian as it sent out pitcher Ramon Marquez, the No. 4 prospect in the system, and Single-A reliever Marty Gair. Philadelphia also made a move to get late-inning left-handed reliever Brooks Raley from the Mets for prospects Luke Gabrysh and John Spikerman. Additionally, the Phillies swapped reliever Seth Johnson for Triple-A outfielder Colby Thomas right at the deadline.
But no new player will be expected to boost the team more than Arráez, a free agent at the end of the year. He’s unlike just about any other hitter in the big leagues, and his style of play should complement a lineup that has its fair share of boom-or-bust batters. It’s something several members of the organization have been able to watch up close. Luzardo and outfielder Bryan De La Cruz both played with Arráez in Miami. He and closer Jhoan Duran were teammates on the Minnesota Twins.
“I think it’s just that,” De La Cruz said through a club interpreter. “It’s just the way that he hits and the ability that he has to make contact and the way he goes about his game and the way he plays the game. The things that he does to be able to do that and perform like that on the field, I think that’s what makes him special. I think that he’ll be a great addition.”
Mattingly would not tip his hand when asked where Arráez will bat in the order. But it would not be a shock to see him leading off against the Nationals on Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park after he arrives, a sight that a handful of Phillies have taken in plenty of times before.
“I don’t know where he’s going to hit here,” De La Cruz said, “but I can see a couple guys being happy here, like (Kyle) Schwarber, Harper, seeing him at the top of the lineup. I think that that would be fun.”
