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Brewers happy to let Arcia develop in the Minors for now

No plans at this time to promote club's top prospect

MILWAUKEE -- With other teams on a prospect promotion binge, the Brewers are content for now to let top Minor Leaguer Orlando Arcia continue to grow down on the farm.

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Barring an injury to one of the Brewers' starters, it doesn't appear that Arcia, No. 1 on MLB.com's list of Milwaukee prospects and the 76th-best prospect in baseball per the most recent ranking, will imminently join a list of top young talent recently elevated to the Majors. Carlos Correa (No. 2 overall), was promoted to the Astros last week, and No. 1 Byron Buxton and No. 3 Francisco Lindor joined the Twins and Indians, respectively, on Sunday.

"I don't think [Arcia] is far away," said Brewers manager Craig Counsell, who was part of the team's long-term planning in his previous role as special assistant to the GM. "That hasn't been a consideration just because of Jean [Segura, the starting shortstop in the Majors]. But he'll be here at some point, I can assure you that."

The Brewers are committed right now to Segura at shortstop and Aramis Ramirez at third base, in part because both are potential trade chips if Milwaukee enters a "reset" phase. And Arcia's ability at shortstop means he won't be moving, anyway.

"If you watch him play shortstop, you'd have a really hard time saying, 'go play somewhere else,'" Counsell said.

Besides Segura being entrenched at that position, there are reasons for the Brewers' patience with Arcia. Unlike Correa and Lindor, who were already at the Triple-A level, Arcia, who is just 20, is at Double-A Biloxi, where he ranked seventh in the Southern League as of Sunday morning with a .315 average and 18th with an .815 OPS -- all while providing Major League-caliber defense at shortstop.

The Brewers don't feel a need to rush Arcia because they are so deep at that position. Besides Segura in the Majors, they have Luis Sardinas and Yadiel Rivera at Triple-A Colorado Springs. Both are on the 40-man roster, and both are superior defensive players.

There is also the question of whether Arcia would benefit from leaving the winning atmosphere in Biloxi, where the 38-24 Shuckers were down to a magic number of two to clinch a first-half division title, to join the Brewers, who woke up Sunday morning 15 games under .500.

"I think it's good for him to be 'the man' there," Brewers pro scouting director Zack Minasian said. "Put it this way: We don't think there's any downside to him continuing to get experience [in the Minor Leagues]."

But as Counsell suggested, Arcia's time is coming. He must be added to Milwaukee's 40-man roster this fall to protect him from December's Rule 5 Draft.

Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamMcCalvy, like him on Facebook and listen to his podcast.
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