Luis Arraez stock continues to dip this season.
The San Diego Padres infielder Arraez cost his team a run on Wednesday night against the New York Mets with a brutal baserunning mistake. During the sixth inning at Citi Field in Queens, N.Y., Arraez knocked a two-out base hit into right field with runners on first and second base.
The ball seemed to be a fairly routine single, but Arraez inexplicably attempted to take second base on Mets star right fielder Juan Soto. The throw from Soto easily beat Arraez for the third out.
Making matters even worse was that lead runner Elias Diaz had not even touched the plate yet when Arraez was tagged out. Thus, the run did not count for the Padres.
Here is the video (which also seemed to show San Diego’s Manny Machado, who was in the on-deck circle, gesturing to Diaz that it was OK for him to ease up).
The Padres cost themselves a run because Elias Diaz didn't cross home before the tag was applied to Luis Arraez at second base.
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 18, 2025
Manny Machado appeared to gesture to Diaz that he could slow down pic.twitter.com/xwPgbnoHX4
Both Diaz, for lollygagging into home plate, and Machado, for seemingly giving Diaz the go-ahead to do so, probably deserved a share of the blame there. But none of that would have mattered any if Arraez, who is not particularly fast and only has 31 stolen bases over his entire MLB career, did not try to take second base on a routine base hit (especially with Soto having a very respectable arm in right).
The three-time batting champion Arraez is now down to a career-low .286 average this season. When he is not putting the ball in play, Arraez doesn’t really provide a whole lot to the team with his other tools. While Arraez has offered some interesting explanations for his (relative) struggles this year, there was really no explanation for that awful baserunning mistake on Wednesday against the Mets.
