Black MLB Players #14: OF Randy Arozarena, Tampa Bay Rays
Background + Path To The MLB
Randy Arozarena is a 28-year-old Afro-Cuban outfielder who plays for the Tampa Bay Rays. He is from Arroyos de Mantua, Cuba, a small town about four and a half hours away from Havana. He grew up a huge soccer fan but started playing pro baseball at 18 years old in the Cuban National Series(CNS), for the team located in Pinar Del Rio.
He played 19 games in his first year as a professional baseball player in the CNS, recording 20 total plate appearances and only getting one hit during the 2013-2014 season. The next year he would play in 74 games, going .291/.412/.419 with 12 doubles, four triples, and three home runs at 19 years old. With this breakout performance, Arozarena established himself as one of the best position players under 25 on the entire island of Cuba.
He defected to Mexico in June 2015 for a myriad of reasons, both personal and related to the game of baseball. Because the Cuban Baseball Federation and the MLB have not officially agreed on a posting system for Cuban players that want to play in the MLB for reasons that are mostly political, Cuban baseball players have to hire smugglers and human traffickers to get them to a country where they can establish residency before signing with an MLB team.
The team officials for Pinar Del Rio did not put him on the roster for the Caribbean Series in Puerto Rico out of fear that he would defect and sign with an MLB team. The Caribbean Series is the highest tournament for professional baseball teams in Latin America, and even though he had an extremely productive season Arozarena did not get the opportunity to play on the biggest stage for Latin American baseball. This made him feel alienated from his team, and his country and made him desperate because of the financial implications as well.
After an eight-hour boat ride to Mexico, he established residency there. Arozarena spent two years toiling in the Mexican League fighting for an opportunity to get signed by an MLB team. He signed with the St. Louis Cardinals for $1.25 million on August 1st, 2016.
Arozarena debuted in MiLB during the 2017 season, accumulating 490 total plate appearances with St. Louis’s High-A and Double-A affiliates. He spent his first 70 games in the Florida State League, going .276/.333/.472 with 22 doubles and eight home runs before a midseason promotion to the Texas League. In 51 games at Double-A during the 2017 season, he slashed .252/.366/.380 and would tack on 10 doubles, eight stolen bases, and three home runs.
Arozarena played 113 games during the 2018 MiLB season, starting with 24 games at Double-A with a .396/.455/.681 slash line before an early promotion to Triple-A. He struggled in his first 300 plate appearances at the highest level of MiLB, going .232/.328/.348 with 16 doubles and five home runs.
For the 2019 season, the Cuban outfielder would once again log time at Double-A and Triple-A, although he was far more dominant against his opponents this time. He went .344/.431/.571 in 399 plate appearances across 92 games with 25 doubles, 15 home runs, 17 stolen bases, and four triples.
He made his MLB debut for the St. Louis Cardinals during the 2019 season, debuting in mid-August and playing until late September. He went .300/.391/.500 in 23 total plate appearances across 19 games.
After a coronavirus diagnosis delayed his 2020 debut, he played the last 23 games of the shortened 60-game season. He was highly productive in all facets of the game, putting up a 1.000 OPS, racking up 1.1 WAR, and playing in all three OF spots, as the Rays love to mix and match on a game-to-game basis.
He dominated during the 2020 playoffs, posting an OPS over 1.000 in every series that he played in. He hit at least three home runs in the ALDS, ALCS, and World Series. He won the 2020 ALCS MVP for his dominant performance as he carried the Rays to the World Series where they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games.
Arozarena played 141 games during 2021, his first full season in MLB. He went .274/.356/.459 in 604 plate appearances with a 28% strikeout rate, a nine percent walk rate, and a 128 wRC+. He accumulated 32 doubles, 20 home runs, and 20 stolen bases. The Afro-Cuban outfielder played 153 games during the 2022 season, slashing .263.327.445 in 645 plate appearances with 20 home runs, 32 stolen bases, and 41 doubles.
Player Profile
Randy Arozarena is an outfielder who stands 5’11’’ and weighs 185 pounds. He is very athletic and has the prototypical build for a baseball player.
Hitting
He stands in the box with a somewhat upright stance and his hands held near his head. He starts his swing with a simple stride forward, using his ability to draw strength from his core and lower body while rotating to drive the ball consistently.
Arozarena makes hard contact frequently, averaging 90 miles per hour on batted ball events(BBEs). His career 42% hard-hit rate is 7% higher than the league average. Based on his raw power, Arozarena has the ability to accumulate extra-base hits at an above-average rate.
His approach is oriented around spraying hits all over the field. He has an aggressive approach at the plate, as drawing walks really is not one of the things that he does well. Arozarena thrives against four-seam fastballs and sinkers on the outer half and down in the lower third of the zone.
He struggles against fastballs in on his hands and in the upper third of the zone. Another weakness is offerings being placed down and away due to his aggressive approach, especially sliders. With a career strikeout rate of 25%, Arozarena will die by the aggressive approach that has made him such an effective hitter up to this point of his career.
Fielding
Despite his athleticism and sprint speed, Arozarena is not a good defender and it is why he plays left field most of the time. His route running and ability to read balls off of the bat are very poor. His decision-making skills are very shoddy as well.
Baserunning
Even with his ability to accumulate raw stolen base totals and make big-time plays on the bases, Arozarena is an aggressive baserunner that makes a lot of foolish mistakes. His -4.3 BsR last year per FanGraphs was one of the worst in all of baseball despite swiping more than 30 bags.
Conclusion
Randy Arozarena is one of MLB’s brightest personalities with an equally captivating style of play. A high-variance player in all facets of the game, the Afro-Cuban outfielder’s aggressive style of play makes him the Russell Westbrook of baseball in my opinion. An intense, high-risk, high-reward player, I look forward to seeing whether he can continue to sustain this level of success he’s achieved without drastically altering how he plays the game.