Milwaukee Brewers: Orlando Arcia is Officially on the Hot Seat

With the recent acquisition of Luis Urias, the Milwaukee Brewers have put Orlando Arcia on notice and he is now officially on the hot seat.

If you’re a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers, it’s no secret that Orlando Arcia has really struggled at  the plate in each of the last two seasons. Although he put together a nice post season run in 2018, he’s otherwise had a few minor league stints, a batting average of .228, an OPS of just .610, and a wRC+ of 58 over the last two years.

However, GM David Stearns and manager Craig Counsell put up with his lack of offensive production because they knew they were getting a high-caliber defender. But even Arcia’s defensive numbers dropped-off in 2019.

According to Inside the Edge Fielding, on ‘likely’ put-outs – which are plays that have a 60-90% chance of being successfully fielded – Arcia’s percentage of success dropped from 76.5 in 2018 to just 65.8 last season. And on ‘unlikely’ put-outs – or plays with a 10-40% chance of being successful – he really dropped off, going from 50 percent down to 31.3 percent.

Now don’t get me wrong, Arcia is still a very good fielder, but if you’re going to struggle at the plate as much as he has, your defense has to be superb. And if this Milwaukee Brewers team is going to maximize their World Series window, then they need a much more consistent bat at the bottom of the order and Stearns reiterated that on Wednesday:

"“Look, we did not have good SS production last year, and we have been open about that. For us to ultimately do what we want to do … production from that position has to improve. Having competition at that position is not a bad thing.”"

But the issue for the Brewers was that they haven’t had anyone internally to push Arcia and compete with him for the starting job. Well, that was until yesterday.

By now I’m sure you’ve all heard the news that the Milwaukee Brewers sent Trent Grisham and Zach Davies to the San Diego Padres in return for Luis Urias and pitcher Eric Lauer. And Urias is expected to compete with Arcia for the starting shortstop job right away.

Urias has spent six seasons in the minors while also having stints at the big league level with the Padres in each of the last two years. In the minors, Urias was a standout, putting together a career slash line of .308/.397/.433 with an OPS of .830, along with 36 home runs.

And although he has struggled in his short time at the big league level with a .221 batting average and a .649 OPS in 302 plate appearances, some of that is to be expected from a 22-year-old making his first career MLB at-bats. However, despite the low production, Stearns really likes what he has seen from Urias and expects him to be an impact player immediately.

"“This is a player who performed at very high levels at very young ages throughout his career,” Stearns said. “This is a player with an elite (strike) zone control, has demonstrated elite contact skills in his past, and is also a very gifted defender. So, this is somebody we’re very happy to bring into the organization.“We’ve got a lot of time before opening day but we certainly expect this player to impact our major-league team this year. We always talk about opening day not being the team you see the entirety of the season. But we’re acquiring this player because we think he’s a major league-caliber player and can impact our team.”"

Urias is the exact type of player that Stearns loves to acquire. He’s a versatile defender, Stearns loves his approach at the plate, and Urias is under team control until 2026. Not to mention that he is regarded as one of the top infield prospects in all of baseball.

This is the first year that Arcia is eligible for arbitration and he is projected to make $2.7 million in 2019 according to MLB Trade Rumors. So the Milwaukee Brewers have a decision to make about Arcia’s future. They could bring him back to compete with Urias, non-tender him, or try to use him as a trade chip this offseason. But regardless of which option they choose, Orlando Arcia, you are officially on the hot seat.