SF Giants now have a lineup conundrum after adding Luis Arraez

With the SF Giants signing Luis Arraez to be their everyday second baseman, they are adding a bat to their lineup that makes a lot of contact. While that is a positive, now they have to solve the conundrum of where to put him in the batting order.

Last season with the San Diego Padres, Arraez was slotted in as the No. 2 hitter for much of the year. He had 535 at-bats as the No. 2 hitter in the lineup and saw a little bit of time as the leadoff hitter but not much as he had just 45 at-bats at the top of the order.

SF Giants have to figure out where Luis Arraez fits in batting order

It makes sense to have a hitter like Arraez bat second. Traditionally in baseball history, you want your leadoff hitter to be a quick guy who can get on base and cause some havoc on the bases and your No. 2 hitter would be a bat-control hitter who excels at putting the ball in play even if the Giants are hoping he returns to his pre-2024 form.

That would lead one to think that Jung Hoo Lee makes sense as the leadoff hitter with Arraez batting behind him and it would not be a huge surprise if we see those two at the top of the order for much of the year.

However, Lee was taken out of the leadoff spot for quite a while in 2025. Manager Bob Melvin used him as the No. 3 hitter a lot at the beginning of the year and he was moved further down the order later in the year when he struggled.

It’s worth noting that Lee slashed .218/.330/.372 when batting leadoff in 78 at-bats, .275/.326/.445 when batting third in 200 at-bats, and .326/.373/.495 in 95 at-bats when batting seventh.

So maybe he is not best suited to the leadoff spot for whatever reason. If that proves to be the case again then maybe the Giants could use Arraez in the leadoff spot since he gets so many hits.

There is also a case to be made that Arraez might be best suited for the middle of the order. So many times the last few seasons it has seemed like the Giants will get runners into scoring position for the middle of the order only for the big bats of the lineup to strike out. 

Putting the ball in play is so essential in those situations to at least force the opposing team to make a play and Arraez is the perfect bat to have in those spots to put the pressure on the defense.

Maybe batting him fifth or sixth in the order after the likes of Willy Adames, Rafael Devers, and Matt Chapman would be the best use of his contact skills so he can help drive in some runs in clutch situations.

Deciding where to put Arraez in the order is a nice problem to have as it’s not every day you get to have a three-time batting champ in the lineup, but it’s something the Giants will have to work out this upcoming season.