San Francisco Giants: Christian Arroyo Named No. 4 3B Prospect by MLB Pipeline

San Francisco Giants prospect, and our number one ranked prospect in the organization, has been named a top prospect again.

San Francisco Giants fans understand the offseason timeline. It goes from rumors, to dead period, to more rumors, to a few signings, to prospect lists. Prospect lists usually mean we are getting closer to the season starting.

Our site has already given our top ten prospects, and Christian Arroyo already tops that list. Baseball America recently released their Top 10 Prospect list, and had him second to Tyler Beede. There is no issue with that. Beede and Arroyo are basically 1A and 1B depending on the day. But neither had really gained any big time prospect recognition outside of the organization, and in trade talks. Well, now one has broken through.

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MLBPipeline.com, the league run website devoted to prospect coverage, rankings, and scouting reports, has put Christian Arroyo as their number 4 Third Base Prospect. Ahead of him on the list are: Vladamir Guerrero Jr, Nick Senzel, and Rafael Devers. Those three are big time prospects, so it’s nice to have Arroyo up there alongside them. Notables behind him? Matt Chapman of the A’s and Hunter Dozier of the Royals.

Really, these lists don’t mean much until they actually break onto the scene. However, Arroyo has been a name discussed since he stepped foot in the organization. Here are his grades according to MLB Pipeline: (Avg=50) Hit: 60, Power: 45, Run: 40, Arm: 55, Field: 50, Overall: 55

Plenty of people might be shocked that he was listed as a third baseman. He has been marked as a shortstop his entire career, until this offseason. What some don’t realize is the moment Matt Duffy went down with Injury last year, the Giants moved Arroyo to third-base. That seems to be his lone option into the big leagues at the moment unless he moves to left field, or can be the fifth starter.

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Arroyo has shown some power across levels, but mainly as a gap-to-gap power, not 25hrs a year power. Once he learns some patience at the plate (only 29 walks, and a .316 OBP at AA in ’16) he could become a real nuisance to pitchers. His fielding and arm are good enough to play third in the bigs, I think it’s his bat that the Giants are waiting on. Although, the Giants brought up Matt Duffy in ’15 and he turned into a guy with a 114 WRC+ and a. 762 OPS. Arroyo could do just the same thing.