San Francisco Giants: What can we Expect from Christian Arroyo This Spring?

With the Super Bowl behind us, we now firmly move towards baseball season with Spring Training just around the corner. We’ll take a look at San Francisco Giants top prospect infielder Christian Arroyo.

The 6-foot-1 infielder from Tampa, Fla. was officially named a non-roster invitee for the San Francisco Giants last week, and many fans are excited to see what the 21-year-old can do this spring.

The San Francisco Giants drafted Arroyo in the first round of the 2013 MLB Draft out of Hernando High School in Brooksville, Fla.

He has spent the last four seasons in the Giants organization where he’s hit .294 in 1,400 at-bats with a .337 on-base-percentage, 20 home runs, 192 RBIs, and 201 runs.

Arroyo entered the 2016 season as the 62^nd best prospect in the game according to Baseball America, and the 82^nd best prospect by MLB.com.

Last season he spent time at second base, shortstop and third base setting him up for a valuable utility role at the major league level. I believe the San Francisco Giants are grooming him to take over third base, but he’ll need to develop some more power to stick at that position.

The scouting report on Arroyo shows that he has great hand-eye coordination, which limits his strikeouts and allows him to put the ball in play quite often.

The problem is, he profiles more as a number two hitter and a second baseman, and that position is filled for the foreseeable future.

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So it will be very interesting to see where Arroyo gets the most reps this spring, and I think he will receive a lot of playing time.

I expect to see the first round draft pick play the game the right way. The San Francisco Giants shocked most experts by taking Arroyo in the first round, but I think they saw something in him that others may have missed. He fits the mold of this San Francisco Giants team in that he plays the game the right way.

I believe he will get most of his playing time at third base as that’s his quickest route to the big leagues, but I expect he’ll be at second base a lot as well.

He is known for putting the ball in play, so I want to see how he does with runners on base and whether or not he can move them over and play small ball. Plus, when he’s up with no one on I’d like to see him be more selective and look for a pitch to drive.

Next: San Francisco Giants Announce Non-Roster Spring Training Invites

With Arroyo having no experience above Double-A and not being on the 40-man roster, there is little chance of him making the club out of spring, but how he does this March could determine whether or not he makes his debut for the San Francisco Giants this summer.