Arcia has remained patient, positive
Jesús Aguilar calls Orlando Arcia his best friend on the Milwaukee Brewers, so he's admittedly a little biased toward his fellow Venezuelan.
But just about everyone can agree with the slugging first baseman that the 24-year-old shortstop turned in one of the biggest performances of his young career Monday in Chicago.
Shrugging off his season-long offensive woes, Arcia singled in each of his four plate appearances and scored two of the Brewers' runs in a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
"That was really important to us," Aguilar said, referring to the Brewers winning their second-ever Central Division title and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs by winning Game 163 against their rival.
"He showed us what he can do. He was prepared for that moment, too. Not so many people can do that in that special a game. If he stays hot it’s going to be perfect for us.
"Let’s see. We hope."
Arcia's season has been one of the more head-scratching in recent memory for Milwaukee.
Considered one of the top prospects in all of baseball several years ago, Arcia came up for the final two months of the 2016 season to get his feet wet and went on to turn in a terrific 2017 in which he hit .277 with 15 home runs and 53 runs batted in to go along with his tremendous glove at shortstop.
But he got off to a terribly slow start at the plate this year and has yet to fully recover. He bounced back and forth between Milwaukee and Class AAA Colorado Springs twice and essentially now shares time with Hernán Pérez and even Jonathan Schoop on occasion.
Arcia, who's hitting a season-best .236 now after his 4-for-4 day in Chicago with three homers and 30 RBI, has had a flair for the dramatic despite his struggles with go-ahead RBI in the ninth inning or later in four games.
But it was the entirety of his game on Monday in Chicago that caught the eye. He twice singled off José Quintana –a pitcher who'd dominated him previously – and scored the Brewers' first run in the third inning.
His third single, which came in the eighth, then led to him scoring the goahead run.
"It felt really good – especially since we were able to win the division," Arcia said through translator Carlos Brizuela. "Just being able to help my team was awesome.
"I just went out there every at-bat and most of them were with no one on base, so I was just trying to put the ball in play and get on base, and thankfully it worked out."
Arcia said he received instruction and advice from a number of sources this season as he worked his way through his issues at the plate with MVP candidate Christian Yelich among them. He lent his advice on timing and pitch recognition, Arcia said.
Arcia considered it all, tried it all in practice and carried over what felt most comfortable to him into the games. And he also maintained a positive attitude, resisting the "woe is me" mentality and remaining a good teammate who could still, if all else failed, positively affect a game with his tremendous defense.
"I think he did a great job mentally," Aguilar said. That was the most important thing. I think he’s going to be all right. He just has to be a little more confident and believing that he can do it.
"But in the most important game Monday he showed that he can do it. And now everybody knows."
Been there, done that: Though the Brewers haven’t been in postseason play since 2011, they have many veterans on their roster who have participated recently, including third baseman Mike Moustakas. He played with Kansas City in the 2014 and 2015 World Series, and was asked what that experience means this time of year.
“Every one is different but it definitely helps having a little bit of experience going into this,” said Moustakas, acquired July 27 in a trade with the Royals. “It’s a different team, different division, different league. But I’m excited; it’s going to be a lot of fun. We’ll see what happens (Thursday).
“These guys know what to do. Everyone in here is confident; everyone has been in a situation similar to this before. Everyone is very confident. We’ve been playing good baseball.”
It’s not as if the Brewers have played without any pressure. They had to close hard in September, including winning their last eight games, to emerge as NL Central champs.
“If we don’t win those games, we don’t get a chance to get to No. 163 and get a chance to win that. It was an incredible run we made, especially to win the division. But our focus is now on the Rockies and what we can do to beat a great team over there.”
Projected starting lineups
Brewers
Lorenzo Cain, cf Christian Yelich, rf Ryan Braun, lf Travis Shaw, 2b Jesús Aguilar, 1b Mike Moustakas, 3b Erik Kratz, c Orlando Arcia, ss Pitcher: TBA
Rockies
Charlie Blackmon, cf D.J. LeMahieu, 2b Nolan Arenado, 3b Trevor Story, ss Matt Holliday, lf
Ian Desmond, 1b David Dahl, rf Chris Iannetta, c Antonio Senzatela, rhp