After an entire two months of pundits making Arevalo jokes, and suggesting it was only moments before the kid imploded, and after months of the kid giving interviews where he mentions just trying to make his little brother proud, the facts are starting to pile up.
Arevalo is coming off a hot week, and for the month of June he’s hitting .391/.455/.587 with 3 doubles, a pair of homers and 12 RBI. He’s dropped 1.3 WAR on the league (equal to one Paul Backstrom and tied for the fifth best as far as shortstops in the JL are concerned), which includes a solid +1.8 ZR (making him an upper-half defender across the JL). Yeah, the kid’s made 10 errors, but the fact is that four or five came all at once—so the damage was somewhat concentrated.
“I’m getting comfortable out there,” Arevalo said the other day. This is not great news for opposing pitchers. The club recently acquired Boys Altena from Jacksonville, and Aletna quickly stepped into the RH platoon spot, leaving Arevalo to his starting slot against RHP.
Let’s look at this question for a minute: Is Arevalo the best shortstop in the JLM? We think the answer has to be yes.
In Huntsville you’ve got 35 year old John Archer hitting .279/.301/.466 with 7 HR and 29 RBI. But his defense is now only a +0.7 ZR. He’s only made six errors, but, you know, you can’t muff what you don’t get to. It all adds up to 0.9 WAR. It’s a borderline call, we suppose, but we give the nod to Arevalo (actually, we give the nod to Arevalo by a pretty long shot, but it seems more politically correct to say it’s close).
In Omaha you’ve got Valentin Colon, a nice little shortstop if ever there was. AT 26, he’s entering his prime. He’s hitting .301/.364/.391. Clubbed 11 doubles and homer. He’s committed 8 errors and posted a -0.1 ZR. Totals up to 1.2 WAR. Not terrible at around the halfway point, and the fact is that there is a reasonable argument that he's the best all-around shortstop in the JLM. But right this minute we say he’s no Arevalo.
In Madison you’ve got Russ Ray, who is posting a fine +4.0 ZR and has only 4 errors. He’s as solid of a defender as there is in the league today. But injuries seem to be taking their toll on his bat. I mean, a 25 OPS+ is about as bad as it gets, and has him playing at below replacement level if you believe that WAR stuff. Not better than Arevalo.
On the whole Arevalo has been to the plate 199 times this season, and is hitting .299/.364/.437, with 9 doubles 5 homers, and 26 RBI. His OPS+ stands at 112. So, yeah. Tell us we’re wrong—we don’t care.
Juan Arevalo is the best shortstop in the JLM. The only guy who can argue otherwise is his new teammate, Boys Altena, and he's only been in the division a week.
