Arcias aim to realize dream of meeting in bigs

'I think it will be amazing for us and our family,' Oswaldo says

April 18th, 2016

MINNEAPOLIS -- Orlando Arcia is the Brewers' top prospect and the sixth-best prospect in baseball, according to MLBPipeline.com. But he's also a typical kid brother, so when Oswaldo Arcia hit a walk-off single in the 12th inning for the Twins on Sunday, Orlando could not help but pick up his cellphone to compose a tongue-in-cheek text.
You don't have enough power to hit it out?
Oswaldo Arcia laughed while telling the story Monday at Target Field, where the Twins hosted Orlando's parent club for the first of the teams' four Interleague games this season. While Oswaldo, 24, bids to re-establish himself on Minnesota's big league roster, 21-year-old Orlando is biding his time at Triple-A Colorado Springs.

They'll have to wait a bit longer to meet in the Major Leagues.
"It's something we're looking forward to," Oswaldo Arcia said. "It's something we've thought about, whether we were playing on the same team or against each other, since we were little. I think it will be amazing for us and our family to have that.
"But at the same time, I tell him that he has to keep working hard for that to happen, and he has to keep doing what he's doing so we can both be here next year and play together."
The Arcias, with another brother and two sisters, were born in the natural gas- and petroleum-fueled industrial city of Anaco, Venezuela to a mother who once captained Venezuela's national softball team. They were too far apart in age to play baseball together as kids, Oswaldo said. But they always shared a love for the game.
"We've always been close in that manner, since I can remember," Oswaldo said. "We've always worked hard together. He'll play a game and he'll be calling me to say, 'Hey, let's go to the gym. Let's run.' And I'll tell him, 'Hey, take a break. You just got done playing. Just take a break.'"
Asked about his brother's strengths as a player, Oswaldo said, "I don't think he has much to work on. I think what's really good about him is his energy, and what he brings to the games and the clubhouse. He loves the game so much, and that helps him to play as hard and as good as he does."

The Brewers planned all along to send Orlando Arcia to Triple-A to begin the season, even after his bat caught up to his glove last season. Arcia batted .307 with an .800 OPS for Double-A Biloxi and was named the league's breakout player by MLBPipeline.com.
But Twins farmhand Max Kepler edged Arcia for league MVP honors, and led Chattanooga to a Southern League Championship Series win over Arcia's Biloxi club.
"He's good," said Kepler, who is now in the Majors with Minnesota. "His bat sure came a long way last year. We didn't see much of that the years before. But he's unreal in the field.
"From the stuff I heard from our pitching staff, we kind of figured him out in the playoffs. He's a little bit of a free-swinger, and you can bust him in because his hands like to get extended. I think they kept him quiet in those four games. But other than that, he's come a long way."
Orlando Arcia is hitting .278 through his first 40 Triple-A plate appearances.
"I talked to him. I knew [getting sent to the Minors] was going to be tough on him, because it is tough. I've been there before," Oswaldo Arcia said. "I talked to him about going to Triple-A and making sure he gives it all, plays hard and keeps working hard, because eventually he will be called up. The harder he works, the faster it will be."