The continuing saga of Arcia's magnificent defense

[istanbultaye]

It's hard for me to say any given play was the best ever, as there are so many factors that can go into it. But, the most memorable plays that I can think of are the aforementioned Bill Hall catch of the deflection from Corey Koskie, a JJ Hardy diving catch of a liner that took him right to 2b to double a guy off, the first Rickie Weeks behind the back flip to Hardy for a force at second, and Geoff Jenkins throw from the LF wall to Overbay in the air to double a guy off.

[brewerfan82]

Not a shortstop play, but I'll always remember this play by Dave Krynzel when he came up to the bigs (0:38 mark):

 

 

He was positioned in shallow, right center and robbed a homerun in left center... I was so excited to watch this guy play for a long time...

[rickh150]

His bat actually is surprising me... a little power, .250 hitter at a young age...

He is getting more and more adjusted to the pitching, which is exciting. He may be an All Star in a couple of years.

Defensively, he is making a lot of good/great plays, yet the drops at 2nd are concerning and overlooked often by BA/Schroeder. They talked about Gold Glove SS defense this weekend, yet he had errors in two of the games. Let's not jump the gun.

[pacopete4]

Holy bleep. Better update this thread after that play.

[mattyo]

I'm very prone to overreactions.......but that was one of if not the best play from a brewers shortstop i've ever seen.

[CheezWizHed]

Unbelievable. I was amazed that he got it in the first place. But then making the out at first was just showing off... I missed his starting point, but he was a good 10 feet past the middle of the infield.

[brwrsfan]

I know often times we've been critical of Arcia's offensive, but man, that kid can flat out play SS. He's going to win gold gloves. If he can just hit even marginally average, he'll be worth it for those kind of plays. That was just sick tonight.

[MrTPlush]

Incredible play by Arcia especially with the circumstances. Gotta love the defensive skills he has and showing up in big moments. Really dangerous throw to make though with two outs and a great pitcher on the mound. Just happy the throw was close enough and Thames could dig it out.

[Ennder]

I just wish they had given him another season to learn how to hit in the minors. By the time his bat is finally ready to be a plus he'll be very close to arbitration. The last set of guys all came up a season too early, I don't want to see them make the same mistake this time around.

[jjfanec]

Aria has put up a line of 308/361/792 in June. Total he is up to 267/312/698. Even if he splits the difference between those two lines the rest of the year that is more than enough hitting for how well he plays the field.

 

Maybe he was rushed a year. Maybe we will have to pay him a year too early. However all that I know is he has seem to become acclimated to major league pitching now and is a key part to a first place team. If they called him up a year later would have he still had a learning curve to get used to pitching this level.

 

I don't know what the best fielding stats are but I know many of them have arcia at or near the top. Who are the gold glove favorites in the NL? When was our last gold glove win

[djoctagone]

When was our last gold glove win(?)

carlos gomez in 2013.

[3and2Fastball]

Arcia should be an All-Star as long as he hits .250

 

if he hits .250 and continues his fielding prowess he's more valuable than Corey Seager, who really should be a 3B. I sincerely believe that, I don't care what "WAR" says. WAR should be adjusted to put more of a premium on defense in the vital defensive positions, but then stat nerds couldn't tie it up in a nice tidy bow in order to attempt to compare players across all positions and decades

[jjfanec]

When was our last gold glove win(?)

carlos gomez in 2013.

 

Thanks. I thought there was someone this decade. Should have taken the time to look it up. Just looked and we have had one since 1982. Hopefully Arcia can add a few more.

[homer]

I started reading this thread and thought it was about the play last night to end the game. Didn't realize there were two plays

[jjfanec]

I started reading this thread and thought it was about the play last night to end the game. Didn't realize there were two plays

 

We should probably change the title because I think there are going to be a whole bunch of plays from Arcia that look like some of the best we have seen.

[Baldkin]

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/238011924/brewers-orlando-arcia-dazzles-at-shortstop/

[FVBrewerFan]

I started reading this thread and thought it was about the play last night to end the game. Didn't realize there were two plays

 

We should probably change the title because I think there are going to be a whole bunch of plays from Arcia that look like some of the best we have seen.

 

Bat keeps getting better too, now just a tick under .700 OPS. Mayae I should just chance the name of the thread to "All Things Orlando Arcia"

[Crash2303]

pfft.. yuni did it better

 

Quite possibly...

[stalton]

I started reading this thread and thought it was about the play last night to end the game. Didn't realize there were two plays

 

We should probably change the title because I think there are going to be a whole bunch of plays from Arcia that look like some of the best we have seen.

 

Bat keeps getting better too, now just a tick under .700 OPS. Mayae I should just chance the name of the thread to "All Things Orlando Arcia"

 

Shortstop WOAH SOLVDD?

[CheezWizHed]

I started reading this thread and thought it was about the play last night to end the game. Didn't realize there were two plays

 

Try three. The thread was created for one play that I unfortunately missed. But there have been two WOW plays since then that I have seen.

 

Last night's was almost a double WOW. One for just getting to the ball and preventing the guy on 2nd from scoring, but then he got to to first for the out ending the game.

 

Update: I edited the title to make it reflect the continuing string of WOW plays.

[MadScientist]

By the time the season is done, that play that started this thread will look like a routine two-hopper.

 

Now if only he can raise his batting average enough to win the gold glove.

[Humans Need Water]

I just wish they had given him another season to learn how to hit in the minors. By the time his bat is finally ready to be a plus he'll be very close to arbitration. The last set of guys all came up a season too early, I don't want to see them make the same mistake this time around.

He'll be in arbitration in 2020 at age 25. Since May 1 he's hitting 277/331/693 (BA/OBP/OPS). He's made visible improvements since the start of the season on both sides of the ball and by the time 2019 comes around he could be a Top 5 SS. His potential since the day he was up here has been blatantly obvious (just like Santana). All they need is a couple full seasons to put it all together given they're both very young. Arcia's currently 10th in BA, 11th in OBP, 13th in OPS in MLB at his position. He definitely has more power than he's displayed overall thus far and that will come with more patience and development at the plate. At 22yrs old at this level his opposite field approach is insanely impressive. Even if he stayed in AAA this year to work on his hitting that doesn't mean he'd have a seamless transition to MLB in 2018. He needs MLB experience, not AAA, which is why he's here.

[gregmag]

Arcia should be an All-Star as long as he hits .250

 

if he hits .250 and continues his fielding prowess he's more valuable than Corey Seager, who really should be a 3B. I sincerely believe that, I don't care what "WAR" says. WAR should be adjusted to put more of a premium on defense in the vital defensive positions, but then stat nerds couldn't tie it up in a nice tidy bow in order to attempt to compare players across all positions and decades

You're probably just going to call me a "stat nerd" and try to steal my lunch money, but I'm pretty sure the defensive metrics that the various WAR stats use already do what you're suggesting. IIUC, they try to measure defensive runs saved. By definition the more important defensive positions can save more runs. Whether the defensive metrics do a good job of measurement is a different, harder question; but that question applies to all stats, even the relative Cory Seager-ness index.

[MrTPlush]

pfft.. yuni did it better

 

Quite possibly...

 

One of my all time favs. This one is up there too:

 

http://m.mlb.com/video/v18042015/ladmil-brewers-turn-a-triple-play-in-the-second

[Ennder]

He'll be in arbitration in 2020 at age 25. Since May 1 he's hitting 277/331/693 (BA/OBP/OPS). He's made visible improvements since the start of the season on both sides of the ball and by the time 2019 comes around he could be a Top 5 SS. His potential since the day he was up here has been blatantly obvious (just like Santana). All they need is a couple full seasons to put it all together given they're both very young. Arcia's currently 10th in BA, 11th in OBP, 13th in OPS in MLB at his position. He definitely has more power than he's displayed overall thus far and that will come with more patience and development at the plate. At 22yrs old at this level his opposite field approach is insanely impressive. Even if he stayed in AAA this year to work on his hitting that doesn't mean he'd have a seamless transition to MLB in 2018. He needs MLB experience, not AAA, which is why he's here.

 

Keep in mind a year would mean he would be coming up around right now since it is past super 2. He'd be a more advanced hitter than he was last year even if he had done it at the minor league level and we'd have him for 1 more year during the next competitive stretch. I'm not saying he is doing a bad job, I'm just saying they rushed him up for no good reason. I hope that doesn't become a theme.

 

As for his defense, that is one of those things you just have to wait and see the metrics on. Defense is probably the worst stat to use the eye test on. You are going to naturally gravitate towards the guys you see the most because you see all of their great plays and not just a great play here and there. Baseball reference has him as the top defensive SS on the year. Fangraphs has him in the top 5.