Luis Arraez suffered an harm to his left thumb whereas sliding into third base throughout a recreation again on June 25, and the continued discomfort was sufficient for Arraez to skip taking part in within the All-Star Sport so he may give his thumb a full 4 days of relaxation over the break. Arraez revealed extra specifics concerning the harm yesterday, telling Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El Extrabase and different reporters that he has a torn ligament in his thumb.
The Athletic’s Dennis Lin (through X) sheds some extra mild on the state of affairs, saying that Arraez was given the okay to maintain taking part in after he obtained a fuller medical examination in the course of the All-Star break. As Arraez described issues final month, he feels discomfort whereas swinging and fielding, but when the harm is finally all about ache tolerance, he needs to remain on the sphere if in any respect bodily doable.
The outcomes have been blended, since Arraez is hitting solely .280/.302/.352 in 130 plate appearances since June 25. It’s a noticeable step again from the .310/.345/.384 slash line he delivered in his first 360 PA of the season, and his total .302/.334/.375 slash line represents the bottom slugging proportion and OBP of Arraez’s six Main League seasons, in addition to the second-lowest batting common.
Arraez’s 103 wRC+ remains to be above the league common, if effectively under the 132 wRC+ he posted in 2022-23 whereas profitable consecutive batting titles in each the AL (with the Twins in 2022) and NL (with the Marlins final 12 months). Naturally Arraez would like to be hitting nearer to his standard normal, but he possible feels that so long as he’s nonetheless productive on the plate, he’ll proceed to try to grind it out. San Diego’s playoff chase is clearly one other issue — the Padres enter right now’s motion holding the highest wild card spot within the Nationwide League, and so they sit solely 2.5 video games behind the Dodgers for first place within the NL West.
The Friars have achieved this success regardless of lacking a number of key gamers for giant chunks of the season. It stays unclear when Fernando Tatis Jr. (femoral stress response) and Yu Darvish (restricted checklist as a result of a private matter) will return to the lively roster, although Joe Musgrove is anticipated to make his return from the 60-day injured checklist on Monday to start out in opposition to the Pirates. Arraez’s nagging thumb downside provides to the Padres’ checklist of considerations, although clearly the staff is attempting to handle the harm as finest as doable, as Arraez is getting a very good chunk of time at designated hitter.
