Buster Posey has secret weapon to unlock Luis Arráez's defense with SF Giants

The SF Giants finalized a one-year deal with veteran infielder Luis Arráez earlier this week. He will return to second base where he has struggled in the past, but he will now have infield coach Ron Washington in his corner.

Buster Posey has secret weapon to unlock Luis Arráez's defense with SF Giants

Washington was announced as the Giants' infield coach when they finalized the coaching staff last week. He not only brings managerial experience to the table for rookie manager Tony Vitello, but he has a track record for helping infielders improve defensively.

There are plenty of stories around baseball of Washington going out of his way to coach young infielders. It is one of the many reasons he was beloved by Atlanta Braves players during his eight-year run with the club.

Over the past two seasons, Washington took over as a manager for the Los Angeles Angels. Before that, he had a couple of stints as a coach with the A's organization. His most recent run was a two-year stint in the mid-2010's, where he worked extensively with Marcus Semien.

At the time, Semien was raw defensively as a young player, but he had the tools to become a competent defender at shortstop. Washington worked with Semien on his consistency at shortstop, and that paid dividends.

The high watermark came in 2021, where Semien won a Gold Glove Award at shortstop with the Toronto Blue Jays. The 13-year veteran shifted over to second base when he joined the Texas Rangers. He has become an excellent defender at second base, earning a Gold Glove Award in each of the past two seasons.

The Giants hope that Washington can see similar results with Arráez. The defensive metrics have not been all that kind to his work at any position. At second base, he has tallied -6 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), -35 Outs Above Average (OAA), and -27 Fielding Run Value (FRV).

Arráez ranks last among all second basemen in OAA and FRV since he made his debut with the Minnesota Twins in 2019. This is compounded by the fact that he has not been a full-time second baseman for much of his career.

Range, especially on plays coming in, have been one of the culprits for Arráez's poor defensive numbers. The Giants hope that Washington can help the veteran infielder see improvement in this area. For what it is worth, Buster Posey believes that Arráez has the foundation to become a good infielder, but they will lean heavily on Washington to help in this regard.