Say all you want about the Giants’ big-money acquisitions over the past year, including the rough starts from hitters Rafael Devers, Willy Adames, and Harrison Bader and the inconsistencies of pitchers Adrian Houser and Trevor Mahle.

One has exceeded expectations. One has produced with any kind of regularity. One is playing like an All-Star.

“I just want to be Luis Arráez,” Luis Arráez said. “It’s my first year in San Francisco, and I try to feel comfortable, play the game, and have fun.”

So far, mission accomplished. With apologies to Casey Schmitt, who has more clout but is adjusting to many positions defensively, Arráez has been the Giants’ best all-around player, boasting the highest WAR on the team, the fifth-best batting average in the National League, and the advanced metrics that rank him the fourth best defender in the majors.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Because of Arráez’s subpar career defensive numbers, the Padres wanted him nowhere near second base last season, made him more of a first baseman/designated hitter, and let him loose in free agency. He signed with the Giants, who promised an everyday job at second base and assigned defensive guru Ron Washington to guide him.

Arráez no longer is below average. He’s not even average. In fact, he’s spectacular. His eight outs above average, a range-based metric displayed on Statcast, trails only Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (13), Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (11), and White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery (9).

Arráez has evolved into the Giants’ most dependable and consistent player on both sides of the ball, and he’s on course to become the Giants’ first All-Star second baseman since Joe Panik in 2015 and compete for the Giants’ first batting championship since Buster Posey in 2012. Arráez is hitting .320, and the dimensions and elements at Oracle Park aren’t deterring him – he’s hitting .314 on the road, .329 at home.

“That’s why we work hard,” Arráez said. “If I make the All-Star team, I’ll be happy with that. I need to continue to work and enjoy the game, and we’ll see what happens.”

The hitting part was always there. Arráez won three batting crowns and brought a .317 career batting average to the Giants, tops among average players, with the best contact rate (and lowest strikeout rate) in the business. He’s not a slugger – he hit his first two homers in the weekend series in Sacramento – but is keen in the clutch with a .333 average with runners in scoring position and .400 mark with two outs in those situations.

“I do what I do every year,” Arráez said. “Just put the ball in play and try to have fun and compete.”

It was a wise move for Posey, the president of baseball operations, to add Arráez to offset the big strikeout guys in the lineup and allow Washington – whose decorated history includes turning Marcus Semien from a defensive liability into a Gold Glover – to oversee his daily defensive work.

“I’m having fun watching him play, but give credit to him,” Washington said. “It takes work. It takes maintenance. We’re working, and we’re doing the maintenance. And as long as he’s working and we’re doing the maintenance, it ain’t gonna go bad.”

Last year, Arráez tied for 234th in the majors in outs above average at -9. Down there with Pete Alonso, Teoscar Hernández, and Heliot Ramos. At the top in 2025? Witt and Crow-Armstrong. Just like this year. Except now they have company in Arráez, who’s showing far better range, a better glove, and a better arm.

Washington’s work with Arráez and other infielders has helped the Giants turn the most double plays in the majors (56) and rank first at turning ground balls and bunts into outs (78%). Arráez tops the majors in assists [145] and leads all middle infielders in double plays turned (33).

Tuesday night, in the Giants’ 5-3 loss to the Diamondbacks that was decided on Ketel Marte’s walkoff homer off Matt Gage, Arráez made a rare error (his second, this one a toughie) when his throw to third hit runner Corbin Carroll on the head. But he participated in two key double plays to end the seventh and eighth innings.

Arráez said the improvement came from his extra work over the winter with Rainer Olmedo, a former defensive-minded big-leaguer who now tutors infielders, and with both Washington and another Giants coach, Hector Borg, since spring training.

Early in training camp, Washington had a heart-to-heart talk with Arráez, challenging him to up his defensive game and that if he wanted to earn an All-Star nod for the fourth time in five years, the work needed to be put in. Not here and there, but daily.

“He just told me we have to do the routine every single day to get better,” Arráez said. “I need to do it.”

The routine is as precise and demanding as Steph Curry pregame drills. Washington is on one end, the infielder on the other, at a short distance, as they work on all kinds of hops and angles and spins, out of Washington’s hand and then off Washington’s bat. Chatter is non-stop, Washington providing encouragement and constructive criticism.

Long before first pitch, on the grass in front of the Giants’ dugout, sometimes with no one else on the field, Washington is seen working with an infielder. Anyone who’s on site every day can see Arráez putting in the time with Washington, sometimes with Borg, who’s often at Washington’s side.

“He’s got a mechanic on duty,” Washington said. “Having a mechanic on duty doesn’t mean that we just go and work after everything is over. We fix stuff during the game. I see stuff that he does out there that might not be right. He might’ve got away with it. But I bring it to his attention, and then the next time that situation comes up, he’ll do it the right way.”

In retrospect, Washington said he believes Arráez “had an unfair bad rap” regarding his defensive inefficiencies. “He’s got the skillset. It’s just a matter of putting in the work to make that skillset come out.” That’s developing nicely in 2026 with Arráez not only hitting as he always does but playing the best defense of his career.

“It’s part of my routine now,” he said of his daily chores with the infield coach, which continue to pay off handsomely.