Shortstop: Brewers' Orlando Arcia showed right away he could make tough plays look easy

Tenth in a position-by-position series on the Milwaukee Brewers entering spring training. Today: Shortstop.

PHOENIX – Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell, who spent most of his playing career in the middle of the infield, knows the difference between plays that every shortstop should make and plays that only the best can make.

As a prime example, all Counsell has to do is watch his own shortstop, Orlando Arcia. The 23-year-old defensive whiz made the nightly highlight reels many times during his breakthrough 2017 season, yet Counsell said that told only part of the story.

“I would point to a couple of things,” said Counsell, who puts a major emphasis on run prevention. “One is that he makes hard things look easy. I more often found myself not saying, ‘Wow! What range there.’ It was more, ‘That was a really hard play that nobody will talk about because he made it look really easy.’

“That’s what he’s best at. He makes some hard things look really easy.”

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One area in which Arcia excels often gets overlooked by the casual fan – relay throws from an outfielder to the plate. On at least four occasions last season, Arcia cut down the potential tying or winning runs in the late innings with strong, accurate relays.

“His accuracy on relay throws was very impactful in baseball games,” Counsell said. “Those outs we got at the plate are game-changing plays. Going from a run to an out at the plate is a game-changing play.

“It closes down a big inning. It takes a run off the board. It gives the pitcher less pitches to get through the inning. There were a couple when the (other team’s) third-base coach doesn’t think there’s a chance.”

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Asked to name his favorite personal plays of the 2017 season, Arcia picked one in the field and one at the plate, both of which proved decisive in the Brewers winning. On June 21 at Miller Park, with the Brewers holding a 4-3 lead over Pittsburgh with two outs and a runner on second in the top of the ninth, Arcia ranged far behind the bag to field a grounder by John Jaso, making a 360-degree spin and on-target throw to end the game in sensational fashion.

The memorable at-bat came on Sept. 23 in a home game against the Chicago Cubs, again in the ninth. Arcia lined a laser-beam homer just inside the left-field foul pole off dominant closer Wade Davis to tie the game, setting up a game-winning blast by Travis Shaw in the 10th inning.

“I’ve seen it quite a few times (on replays),” Arcia said with a big smile. “It’s fun to watch it. ... I thought it was actually going to go foul. I was looking to make sure it didn’t go foul.”

After a slow start at the plate, Arcia began to show some of the offensive spark that made him the Brewers’ No. 1 prospect before coming to the majors with two months remaining in the 2016 season. He finished last season with a .277 batting average, .324 on-base percentage, 15 home runs and 53 runs batted in, all while batting near the bottom of the lineup for the most part.

The Brewers’ brain trust believes that performance was a preview of coming attractions. The way Arcia plays defense, he would have value even as a spray hitter. But, with only 707 at-bats in the majors, Arcia likely has just scratched the surface of his offensive talents.

“It’s about experience, really,” Counsell said. “Just players in general, ball-strike discernment is where his growth is going to happen. That’s just what’s going to make him better. He’ll get better at it as he sees big-league pitches. That part’s not complicated.

“He was able to get to the power he has and hit some home runs, and I think that will be a part of his game. Now, it’s just the ball-strike stuff, little by little, continuing to get better. It will put him in better spots, better counts, able to take advantage of his power.”

It is no secret that Arcia can be an overaggressive, free swinger. He has drawn only 54 walks over his first 764 plate appearances with the Brewers, and the work continues with hitting coach Darnell Coles to offer only at strikes.

Arcia said he continues to listen as his teammates, as well as Coles, preach patience at the plate.

“The guys gave me tips throughout the year, and working with D.C. really helped,” Arcia said. “I kept putting things in my head, and little by little, everything started coming together as the year went by.

“Now, I just want to get back to it and have an even better year. You’ve still got to get better. You have to keep working every day and keep improving.”

The surprising Brewers improved considerably in 2017, and many of the contributors were acquired from outside of the organization. But Arcia is homegrown, having signed with the Brewers at age 16 in October 2010 out of Venezuela.

Of being on the ground floor of the rebuilding process, Arcia said, “It’s definitely an honor. I feel proud to be part of it but at the same time I have to keep working.

“I want to be an influence to the guys below me, so the guys in the minor leagues can see what I’m doing and how I’m handling it. Then, hopefully when they get here, they can do the same.”

Knowing the shortstop position is in good hands for years to come, the Brewers must wait to see just how good Arcia can be. If last season was any indication, the sky is the limit.

“He’s a very young player who’s just getting experience, going through successes and failures, learning the game, learning players,” Counsell said. “For a player like Orlando, he’s such an instinctual player, but it’s hard to be instinctual when you’re learning everything.

“You feel you get to the point where the instincts are allowed to take over. It’s really a sign of comfort almost, then you start to see some really good things. He impacted us defensively. That was the biggest thing. There was an impact defensively that we were expecting and we saw.”

Which included making difficult plays look not so difficult.

By the numbers

20 — Errors by Orlando Arcia in 152 games at shortstop last season.

.761 — OPS by Arcia against right-handers, compared to .623 vs. lefties.

.339 — OBP by Brewers shortstops in ’17, third in the National League.

61 — RBI from shortstop position for Brewers last year, 13th in the NL.

.370 — OBP by Arcia in 28 games in the month of June in 2017.