Busted: With Orlando Arcia struggling so much at the plate, do the Braves look elsewhere for production at shortstop?
Although, the Braves are finally feeling good again, one player is in the midst of a very poor stretch of baseball.
Orlando Arica had a career year in 2023 in his first year as the Braves primary shortstop.
However, 2024 has been a house of horrors for Arcia, and now he has a top prospect right on his heels.
Despite getting off to another hot start in the season’s first couple weeks, Orlando Arcia has cooled off considerably since and his season numbers leave a lot to be desired.
He’s basically been hitting like a pitcher for nearly two months now, among qualified hitters in all of baseball.
So statistically speaking he has been the worst hitter in MLB for a prolonged stretch of time. Unlike some of the unlucky Braves hitters Arica isn’t hitting into tough luck.
His batted ball profile is a sight for sore eyes, and is pretty much the one guy in the lineup who has trouble hitting the ball hard with regularity.
It’s perfectly fine to have an elite defender batting ninth in the lineup on a nightly basis, especially when you consider the other firepower in the Braves lineup.
However, Arcia has reverted back into his career norms at the plate, and that makes for a near unplayable hitter no matter how superb the defense is.
All of this noise is growing amongst the fanbase for another key reason, exciting shortstop prospect Nacho Alvarez Jr.
Braves top position prospect is making noise in Triple-AAtlanta Braves fans have already seen a plethora of exciting pitching prospects enter the fray this season.
However, fans have yet to see a young home-grown position player breakthrough the minor leagues since Michael Harris II made the jump from Double-A in 2022.
Just about a week ago, Nacho was promoted to Triple-A Gwinnett at just 21 years-old.
Playing as one of the youngest players at the Triple-A level hasn’t seemed to worry Nacho much at all, as he is off to a blistering start with Gwinnett.
