Jobu shines yet another spotlight on an emerging MLB rookie. This time, it’s Oswa ldo Arcia of the Minnesota Twins.
Seriously now. Teams need to stop calling up impactful players. To steal a line from famed politician, crackpot and meme inspiration Jimmy McMillain… These spotlights are making our light bill too damn high! Anyway, if you’re like me, you didn’t know who Oswaldo Arcia was before the season started. I certainly didn’t have him on my radar, but that’s because the 22-year old Venezuelan had never played above AA before this season. Let’s meet him, eh?
As I mentioned above, Arcia is just 22 years old, with just ten AAA games under his belt before his call up this season (he was hitting .394 in those games, at least). He was born in Anaco, Anzoategui, Venezuela on May 9th, 1991. Now that we all feel old… Arcia was signed by Minnesota as a 16 year old in 2007. His climb was kind of slow, as he spent a year in the Dominican Summer League and then two in Rookie Ball for the Twins Gulf Coast League affiliate. He held his own, but it was in 2011 that his climb really began.
He actually began 2011 on the Gilf Coast Twins for the third consecutive year, but moved up to A-Ball after just two games. After hitting .352 in just 20 games, he was pushed up to A+ Fort Myers, where he hit just .263. That’s where he also started the 2012 season, hitting .309/.376/.517 in 55 games before getting the call up to AA New Britain, where he again hit over .300 to end the year.
All of that earned him his trip to AAA to start this season. He was hitting .394/.474/.727 in ten games, when a bit of luck came his way. Outfielder Wilkin Ramirez‘s wife had a baby, and the Twins sent him home on paternity for a couple of days. Needing an outfielder for that short stay, they went with one of their top prospects. It seemed like an odd move, considering the move would only be for a couple of days, but whatever, right? Give the kid a taste of the show. True to their word, the Twins called him up and sent him back down when Ramirez was back, just one game later. Fate smiled upon Oswaldo again just a couple of days later, when outfielder Darin Mastroianni hit the DL with a bum ankle. Arcia came back up, and he hasn’t looked back since.
He’s basically made it impossible for the twins to sit him, hitting .261/.327/.435 with 3 homers and 13 RBI in the 26 games since he joined the team. There’s talk that he’ll be the one to take home the Rookie of the Year this year, but of course that remains to be seen. For now, I’m sure the Twins are content to have him along side their other rookie outfielder, Aaron Hicks, who has really picked things up after a slow start to the year. As far as the future holds for Arcia, scouts seem to think he’ll hit for average and for good enough power to stick as a right fielder for his whole career (he has a good arm in the field as well).
I look forward to seeing what develops in Minnesota, both from Oswaldo and Hicks.
Featured image courtesy of: Charles Krupa/AP
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