The San Francisco Giants have proven they know what it takes to form a winning team, and a lot of their success has come through drafting the right players and making the right trades. Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain are all Giants draft products and have each contributed heavily to at least one of the team’s titles in recent years. While it’s far too early to proclaim that Christian Arroyo will be joining their company, the 20-year old is just plain showing off in the Arizona Fall League.
The Giants second-ranked prospect is batting .447 with 3 home runs and 9 RBI through nine games, and this is coming after spending all of 2015 in High-A San Jose. While he has only drawn one walk in 38 at-bats, he’s also only struck out four times, which means he’s putting the ball in play–something the Giants do very well at the Major League level.
The problem for Arroyo is that his regular position, shortstop, is manned by Brandon Crawford in San Francisco. Crawford had a breakout offensive season with the orange and black and is also one of the nominees for the Gold Glove award at short, so he isn’t going anywhere. The other position Arroyo is familiar with, second base, has Joe Panik laying claim to it. While his grasp isn’t quite as solid at the position, it’s hard to see the Giants removing Panik any time soon.
It was this conundrum that has led to some to ponder a potential move to center field for Arroyo in the future. The move makes sense as 34-year-old Angel Pagan is entering the last year of his deal with the Giants, and has many wondering if he is even a fit for the team in 2016, let alone whether or not he should be re-signed.
Another option, as MLB.com’s Bernie Pleskoff points out, would be to try Arroyo out at third base. While Rookie of the Year candidate Matt Duffy did a tremendous job at the position in 2015, batting .295 with 12 homers and 77 RBI, the production seemingly came out of nowhere. The 12 home runs is just one less than Duffy put up in 248 Minor League games over the previous three seasons. If Duffy is able to replicate that performance in 2016, then either he or Arroyo could find themselves on the move.
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Whatever the case ends up being, Arroyo has shown that he can hit at each level he has participated, and right now he’s making the case that the Giants should consider him in their plans sooner rather than later. After 90 games with San Jose and his stint in the Fall League, Arroyo may just need a brief stint in Double-A Richmond (Duffy played 97 games there before his call-up) before finding his way into the Giants starting lineup.