Contact king Arraez showing off versatility

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Over the last four seasons, Twins fans have grown plenty familiar with Luis Arraez, their homegrown contact king. The baby-faced 25-year-old with the cheeky grin is just about universally loved around Twins Territory, with his unbridled joy for the game, his intense-but-chuckle-inducing mannerisms at the plate, and, of course, his ability to make every pitcher in the game work really hard for every out.

Even as Arraez has grown to be a household name around the Upper Midwest and the Majors’ leader in batting average and on-base percentage, he hopes his first career All-Star selection can open the door for more recognition on the national level.

“I think this is a good opportunity for me, as a baseball player, for everybody to know,” Arraez said. “Because I'm the [hitting] leader right now, but nobody knows me. So if I get there, I think everybody wants to know Luis Arraez.”

Modern baseball has increasingly become a game of power, of extra bases, making Arraez a total throwback to decades past, when contact carried more value. His nontraditional skillset has still afforded him a 150 wRC+, by far the highest among regulars on the 2022 Twins.

With all that in mind, I asked Arraez -- does he feel underrated?

“I think yes,” Arraez said. “I think yes. If you ask my teammates, I think yes. This is my best year. I worked especially hard in the offseason. I've had a good year.”

Why does he believe he's underrated?

“I don't know,” Arraez said. “I play a lot of positions, and I think if I played only second base, third, for example, I think everybody would know me more. But a utility player has more chances because I can play third, I can play short, I can play second, first, and especially left field. I played a lot of games last year in left field. I think I've got a lot of chances for people to know me.”

Arraez is right -- playing that kind of role isn’t necessarily the most glamorous, and those guys don’t often get as much national recognition as their counterparts anchored at a single position, year after year. But where would the Twins be without Arraez’s ability to play second base (in Jonathan Schoop’s stead in 2019) or third base (in Josh Donaldson’s stead in 2021) or left field (in Alex Kirilloff’s stead in '21) or first base (in Miguel Sanó’s stead this year)?

That has increased his value to the Twins while his bat has spoken for itself -- and for four years, he’s come to the ballpark without an idea of what to expect in the weeks or months to come, position-wise. He’ll be in another new environment at the All-Star Game -- and he’s ready for the world to learn who he is. And it’s somewhat fitting that he has no idea where they’ll want him to play.

“First, second, third, whatever position, I don't know,” Arraez said.