Former Twin Luis Arraez still helping team from afar
Carlos Correa credited Luis Arraez for giving him hitting pointers earlier this season
Luis Arraez #4 of the San Diego Padres celebrates with teammates after scoring a run against the Miami Marlins during
the tenth inning of the game at loanDepot park on Aug. 09, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Luis Arraez #4 of the San Diego Padres celebrates with teammates after scoring a run against the Miami Marlins during
the tenth inning of the game at loanDepot park on Aug. 09, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO — Luis Arraez freely admits that when he got the news that he was being traded in January 2023 away from
the only organization he had ever known, it was an emotional moment for him.
“I cried a lot,” Arraez said. “I never forgot Minnesota. I miss Minnesota.”
Luis Arraez #4 of the San Diego Padres slides to second base against Xavier Edwards #63 of the Miami Marlins during the fifth inning of the game at
loanDepot park on Aug. 11, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Luis Arraez #4 of the San Diego Padres slides to second base against Xavier Edwards #63 of the Miami Marlins
during the fifth inning of the game at loanDepot park on Aug. 11, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Arraez has since been traded one more time, swapped by the Miami Marlins to the San Diego Padres this May. But while
his Twins career, he said, feels like it was a while ago because of everything that
has come after it, he still maintains contact with many of his former teammates and coaches, so much so that
in June, in the midst of a hot streak, shortstop Carlos Correa credited Arraez for helping him out at the plate.
“He gave me good pointers going into the season, and I’ve been doing them,” Correa said two months ago. “He’s the man. He knows what he’s doing.”
What’d he tell Correa?
“Carlos, he’s always talking about baseball,” Arraez said. “I just say to him, ‘Hey, hit the ball to the middle. Try to hit the ball to the middle … or right field.
You’ve got power. If I’ve got your power, I just try to hit to the middle.’ Carlos is one of my favorite players.”
Arraez, who also called Twins legend Rod Carew his “grandfather,” and said the hall of famer mentored him during
his years in Minnesota, is on the hunt for his third batting title in as many years. If he accomplishes the feat, he will have
done something that no hitter has done in the modern era, winning the batting crown for three
