Even including the 0-for-4 he put up with the Cardinals in last year’s postseason, Arozarena’s career .797 slugging percentage in the postseason is second only to Colby Rasmus‘ 1.038, which was done in just 35 PA to Arozarena’s 65. Odds are that will regress even if his totals increase, but it’s impressive nonetheless.

All of the other players on both of those lists were well-established in the majors if not necessarily well known; the only other rookie to crack either leaderboard was Evan Longoria, who’s among those not pictured in the six-homer bunch from the first table. He had just finished a 2008 season that would garner him the AL Rookie of the Year award. Arozarena, remarkably, will still have Rookie of the Year eligibility next year.

If you’re unfamiliar with his back story, it’s worth a review. Born in Arroyos de Mantua, a small city on the northwest coast of Cuba, on February 28, 1995, Arozarena tore up Cuba’s 18U league in 2013, and earned a spot on the junior national team (Yoan Moncada was a teammate). After similarly tearing up a 23U league, he spent his age-18 and -19 seasons playing second base and the outfield for Pinar del Rio of Cuba’s Serie Nacional, notably hitting .291/.412/.419 as a 19-year-old in 2014-15, at which point Baseball America ranked him as the number nine prospect in Cuba. Via the New York Times‘ James Wagner, he soured on Cuba after his father died suddenly from an allergic reaction to shellfish in 2014 and he was left off Pinar del Rio’s roster for the 2015 Caribbean Series in Puerto Rico out of fears that he would defect, which he ended up doing anyway in June 2015. He established residency in Mexico and attended the academy of the Toros de Tijuana before the Cardinals signed him for $1.25 million in August 2016.

I found it fascinating to trace Arozarena’s evolution as a prospect through Eric Longenhagen’s writeups and grades. When he landed on the Cardinals’ Top Prospects list at number 16 in 2017, Longenhagen described him as “an explosive physical specimen without a clear position,” a 40 Future Value utility type whose hit tool and game power were suspect, with future grades of 45 and 40, respectively. That overall grade held even as he shed the utility tag and landed in the outfield. The grade on the hit tool improved to 55, with Longenhagen writing for the Cardinals’ 2018 list, “Arozarena’s combination of bat speed and hand-eye coordination should enable him to be an above-average hitter… He’s limited to the outfield corners and may not hit for enough power to profile as an everyday corner bat once big-league pitchers learn to stay away from him.” By 2019, he had the unenviable label of a “tweener,” lacking the speed and instincts for center field or the power to play a corner. “His likely role is that of the lesser platoon, defensive replacement, pinch-running variety,” wrote Longenhagen.

After a 2018 season spent yo-yo-ing between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis, and struggling at the higher level, Arozarena hit well at both levels in 2019, including a sizzling .358/.435/.593 in his return to Memphis. He made his major league debut on August 14 of that year, starting in center field against the Royals and collecting singles off Kevin McCarthy and Ian Kennedy; though he played just two more games before being sent down, he returned for a September cup of coffee highlighted by a homer off the Diamondbacks’ Merrill Kelly, and came off the bench in five postseason games as a pinch hitter and defensive replacement.

All told, it was a big enough season for Arozarena to crack Longenhagen’s Top 100 Prospects list — the only such list he made — as a 50 FV prospect thanks to slight improvements in his run and field tools. By the time he landed there, however, he was a Ray, traded alongside Jose Martinez and a supplemental first-round pick on January 9 in exchange for prospects Matthew Liberatore and Edgardo Rodriguez, plus a supplemental second-round pick. “His quality of contact is very good, he’s a plus corner outfielder who can pass in center field, and he’s a great baserunner, as well as an intense, high-effort player who pro scouts love watching,” wrote Longenhagen.