Joaquín Arias (born September 21, 1984) is a Dominican former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, New York Mets, and San Francisco Giants. Baseball career New York Yankees Arias signed with the New York Yankees as an international free agent in 2001. He batted .266 for the Battle Creek Yankees of the Class A Midwest League in 2003. Texas Rangers The Texas Rangers acquired Arias on March 23, 2004, completing a trade made 36 days earlier on February 16 that sent Alex Rodriguez to the New York Yankees for Alfonso Soriano. Among five Yankees prospects offered to the Rangers, Arias was selected over Robinson Canó because he was a more polished defender and two years younger. Arias made his Major League debut with the Rangers on September 13, 2006, drawing a walk against the Detroit Tigers. New York Mets Arias was designated for assignment on August 24, 2010 and traded to the New York Mets on August 31 for Jeff Francoeur. Kansas City Royals On November 4, 2010, Arias was claimed off waivers by the Kansas City Royals, but the Royals designated Arias for assignment on December 19 to make room on the 40-man roster for the prospects acquired in the Zack Greinke trade. San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants signed Arias to a minor league contract on December 15, 2011. After spending the 2012 Spring training with the Giants, he was assigned to Fresno Grizzlies, Giants' Triple-A affiliate, on April 5. He played 18 games for the Grizzlies, hitting .400 with 2 home runs and 17 runs batted in (RBIs). The Giants called up Arias on April 25. 2012 Arias hit his first major-league home run in his 331st career major-league at-bat on May 22, 2012. The two-run homer off Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Shaun Marcum gave San Francisco a 4–0 lead in the 4th inning of a game the Giants would go on to win by a score of 6–4. On June 13, 2012, playing third base, Arias fielded a tricky grounder—stumbling backwards as he gloved the ball—and threw to first base for the final out of Matt Cain's perfect game. On August 22, 2012, he accumulated a single-game career high of five RBIs. In total, Arias appeared in 112 games of the 2012 regular season, batting .270 with 5 home runs and 34 RBIs. He was also hit