Brewers' Arcia takes his place among best young shortstops of all-time
Despite their recent slump, a lot has gone right for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2017. The progression of shortstop Orlando Arcia has to be near or at the top of the list.
After batting just .219 with a .273 on-base percentage and .358 slugging percentage in 55 games as a rookie last year, Arcia has upped his numbers in his sophomore campaign to .284/.326/.420. And he just turned 23 years old last week.
Arcia started slow offensively in 2017, but since May 18 he has a slash line of .319/.357/.452. So far in August, he's batting .351/.368/.622 in 10 games.
He recently joined the 10-10 club -- 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases in a season. That might not seem like much of an accomplishment, but only six shortstops who began the season at 22 years or younger have done that in National League history.
| PLAYER | TEAM | YEAR | G | HR | SB |
| Arky Vaughan | PIT | 1934 | 115 | 12 | 10 |
| Wil Cordero | MON | 1993 | 138 | 10 | 12 |
| Wil Cordero | MON | 1994 | 110 | 15 | 16 |
| Jimmy Rollins | PHI | 2001 | 158 | 14 | 46 |
| Hanley Ramirez | FLA | 2006 | 158 | 17 | 51 |
| Starlin Castro | CHC | 2011 | 158 | 19 | 22 |
| Starlin Castro | CHC | 2012 | 162 | 14 | 25 |
| Orlando Arcia | MIL | 2017 | 112 | 11 | 11 |
Of course, Arcia is known more for his defense, and he is not disappointing with that skill either.
He currently leads NL shortstops in putouts (202), assists (316), double plays (82), total zone runs (14 -- no one else has more than 8), range factor per 9 innings (4.97), range factor per game (4.67) and out of zone plays (89). He leads the majors in four of those categories -- putouts, DPs, RF/9 and out of zone plays.
Other notes:
-- Milwaukee is averaging 2.60 home runs against Cincinnati this season -- that is the highest HR/G vs. an opponent in any season in MLB history. Six other teams have averaged 2.5 or more: 1996 A's vs. Tigers (2.58), 1996 Orioles vs. Mariners (2.50), 1998 Cubs vs. Brewers (2.50), 1999 Mariners vs. Twins (2.50), 2000 Astros vs. Cardinals (2.50) and 2017 Yankees vs. Orioles (2.50).
-- Brewers starting pitcher Jimmy Nelson has improved his K/BB ration from 1.63 last year to 4.65 in 2017. The +.302 difference would be the fifth-best in the National League since 1900. No. 1 on the list is Milwaukee's Ben Sheets (+4.60 from 2003 to 2004).
-- Nelson has pitched at least seven innings allowing 0 or 1 run on six occasions this season, tied for fourth-most in the NL.
Statistics courtesy STATS, baseball-reference and Fangraphs
