Free agent three-time batting champ an intriguing fit for Toronto Blue Jays

One of the game's elite contact hitters is a free agent and nobody is really talking about it.

Luis Arráez is known across the league as one of the best bat-to-ball (contact) hitters in the game.

Spraying the ball to different parts of the park, coupled with a very low strikeout rate, were skills that were once highly thought of amongst league executives.

However, to many people's surprise, Arráez doesn't have the market that was once expected.

There is one reason for this, and it is the fact that he is not the typical power hitter that teams desire to throw big bucks at.

The lack of a market may force Arráez to take a prove-it deal instead of a long-term contract that he initially wanted, quite funny for someone who won three straight batting titles.

Arraez has experience at second base, but he is best utilized as a first baseman or designated hitter.

He is one of the game's elite hitters, putting the ball in play in 91.6 percent of his plate appearances in 2025, and he is a career .317 hitter with three batting titles on his resume.

Still only 28 years old, his value is capped by his lack of extra-base pop, middling on-base skills and lack of defensive value, but he can flat-out hit.

With the departure of Ty France there is a void to fill at first base as a backup to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

If by some miracle that the Blue Jays do not re-sign free agent Bo Bichette, Arraez could slot into second base replacing one hits leader for another.

Bichette has more power than Arraez, but not enough that can't be made up somewhere else. A healthy Anthony Santander in 2026 would certainly solve that issue.

A career .317 hitter would fit in perfectly with the Blue Jays put the ball into play brand of baseball.

Still, the lack of buzz around Arraez's free agency is perhaps less of an indictment of his skillset and more an indication of the slow market for free agent position players in general.

It's possible that some teams interested in Bichette as a second baseman would pivot to Arraez if their Plan A falls through.

In that case, Arraez might be wise to wait on Bichette's market to ratchet up.