Milwaukee Brewers: Is there a plan B if Arcia continues to struggle?

The Milwaukee Brewers are now a competitive organization and have made many key additions to its roster to shape it into a contender.  Could there be another move in the future that could replace the struggling Orlando Arcia?

Orlando Arcia, a former top prospect of the Milwaukee Brewers, has taken a big step backward since his breakout 2017 season when he hit .277/.324/.407. Arcia showed some power with 15 dingers. He was very productive from the bottom of the order. Mostly hitting in the eighth spot, he drove in 53 runs. He played in 153 games last year and only struck out 100 times.

His concerning defense?

This season, Arcia has been an extreme disappointment. To go along with multiple demotions to the Minors and his bat disappearing, his defense has helped his case. Last season, Arcia committed 20 errors. Most Milwaukee Brewers fans scratching believed he would improve.

Fast forward to 2018, and his defense has fallen off tremendously. In just 101 games Arcia has 15 errors and his fielding percentage sits at a .959. There were supposed to be Gold Gloves in his future. We have seen some flashes of that, but there seems to be no concrete evidence that his defense is elite.

To replace a player who is 23 years old and should get better is not a normal topic of discussion, but the organization’s current status could cause a change. Or has a change already taken place?

Is there a possible replacement?

A young and promising infielder, Mauricio Dubon is knocking on the door of the Major Leagues. If he did not tear his ACL early in the season., the Milwaukee Brewers may have called him up already.

In Triple-A, Dubon was off to a great start. In 27 games, Dubon batted .343/.348/.574. He had driven in 18 runs in that span. He is projected to play second base, but he played 23 of his 27 games at shortstop. Dubon is a solid prospect and possible option at shortstop if Arcia can’t improve in 2019.

Was there more to the Schoop Acquisition?

Could there have been more on the minds of the front office when the Milwaukee Brewers went out and acquired Jonathan Schoop from Baltimore?

Schoop is a very similar player to Arcia. Despite his struggles early on, Schoop has a plus arm and is an easy offensive upgrade over Arcia when he is playing well.  Schoop seems to struggle at shortstop, but considering the offensive tradeoff the team receives, it is well worth it.

Hopefully, Arcia will figure it out soon and continue to develop into the player he was projected to become. If he can’t, we could see a different name playing up the middle in the next year or two for the Milwaukee Brewers.