Luis Arraez will start his Phillies tenure hitting cleanup, Mattingly explains why

By now, everyone knows that the Philadelphia Phillies have traded for Luis Arraez. On Tuesday, he arrived at Citizens Bank Park to make his anticipated Phillies debut. The first new-look lineup had the former Giant batting cleanup and Kyle Schwarber batting leadoff. 

Phillies Manager Don Mattingly admitted he was indecisive on where to bat Arraez in the lineup. 

"I didn't really know which way to go with it," said Mattingly. "I don't think I can really mess it up either way. For now, it's kinda where we're gonna start."

The other way would've been switching Arraez and Schwarber. It would be hard to mess up adding Arraez to the lineup. He's a four-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger. Over his career, he's hit .318. That'll play anywhere in a lineup. 

"You figure he's coming up with men on base and it doesn't take a home to drive in a run," explained Mattingly on Arraez batting cleanup. "A base hit drives in runs from second base. There is protection for Harp from the standpoint of like walks and there's guys on base."

Arraez hasn't hit fourth much in his career. In 39 games at cleanup, Arraez has hit .295 with a .729 OPS. Even though it's low compared to his career numbers, it's a small sample size. He'll most likely outperform those numbers. 

"I wanna split them a little bit, the lefties, as much as we can instead of putting three together," said Mattingly on why he put Schwarber at leadoff.  Schwarber is no stranger to being at the top of the order. In 2024, he famously broke the record for most leadoff home runs. He has a career .837 OPS at the top spot of the lineup.

The Phillies have been tied for 22nd in Major League Baseball in OPS. They're 23rd in batting average with a .237 mark. Arraez brings an .801 OPS and .323 batting average in 2026 to the lineup.