Tony Vitello reveals how he sees 'unique' Luis Arraez fitting into SF Giants lineup

Ever since it was announced that the SF Giants signed Luis Arraez to be the team's second baseman, there have been spirited debates among fans about the best spot to bat him in the lineup. Manager Tony Vitello shared his thoughts recently.

John Shea of the San Francisco Standard shared the following on social media: "Luis Arraez is leading off for Giants tonight, and Tony Vitello said the second baseman is a unique player who could hit first some days and in middle of the lineup other days. Vitello said he plans to utilize him in both spots."

Arraez did indeed bat leadoff for the Giants on Monday night in an exhibition game at Oracle Park against the Sultanes de Monterrey, a Mexican League squad. That's important because with Opening Night on Wednesday against the New York Yankees, the Giants are trying to dial in their lineup.

Vitello says Arraez can be used in different spots of SF Giants lineup

It makes sense that Vitello said he is open to using Arraez in different spots in the batting order. Naturally, a lot of it will come down to how the offense is faring. If the Giants start the year with Arraez batting leadoff, as we projected in our Opening Night lineup prediction, and they score 10 runs in every game of the series versus the Yankees, something tells me Arraez will keep batting leadoff.

But if as the season drags on it's clear that Arraez is batting with the bases empty a lot and is not coming up with runners on base, maybe they will move him to the No. 3 or No. 5 spot in the order so he will be at the plate in more RBI spots.

Arraez is a contact specialist and hardly ever strikes out. The Giants have needed that kind of bat in their lineup for years, especially in RBI situations. The Giants have so many guys in their lineup with power who also strike out a lot, so now they finally have a guy in Arraez who can be counted upon to put the ball in play.

The Giants tried a similar experiment with Jung Hoo Lee last season. Manager Bob Melvin used Lee a lot in the No. 3 spot early on thinking that it would be good to have a contact hitter in RBI situations. It worked well initially, but as Lee cooled off he was moved down in the order.

Arraez is not Lee, though. Lee makes contact more often and strikes out less than an average MLB hitter, but Arrraez makes contact more often and strikes out less than pretty much every MLB hitter.

He is a completely different weapon to have in the lineup so it will be fascinating to see how Vitello and the Giants choose to utilize him throughout the season.