Arcia battling through hitting woes

NEW YORK -- Outfielder Oswaldo Arcia remains a candidate for the American League Rookie of the Year Award, but he has fallen into a slump.

Arcia, 22, entered July hitting .284 with an .817 OPS but went into Friday's action hitting .262 with a .739 OPS. He has only one extra-base hit this month, coming on a double against the Yankees on July 2 at Target Field.

He spent extra time working on his swing before Friday's game against the Yankees, and manager Ron Gardenhire is confident he can turn it around.

"He's just overswinging," Gardenhire said. "He's swinging at pitches out of the zone and getting away from swinging at balls [in] the strike zone. It looks like he's trying to hit the ball back to Venezuela. So we just need him to shorten his swing."