Two former Brewers are getting another chance with the league's worst team

The year is 2020. The world is shut down, and so is the Milwaukee Brewers offense. But despite a sub-.500 record, the team still has a chance to make the playoffs in the shortened MLB season. It's August 16, and the Crew is facing a tough opponent in the 2020 Chicago Cubs, who went on to "win" the NL Central in the 60-game asterisk-riddled season. In desperate need of a win and any semblance of an offense, two batters at the bottom of the order stepped up with massive home runs to give Milwaukee a 6-5 win: Keston Hiura and Orlando Arcia. Now, after five seasons filled with ups and downs, Hiura and Arcia are back together again, this time with the Colorado Rockies, who just won their first series of the year...on June 4.

There was a time when the middle-infield duo of Hiura and Arcia had Brewers fans excited about the future. Arcia proved he could be a productive big-leaguer with a 2.2 WAR season in 2017, and Hiura burst onto the scene in a major way during the second half of the 2019 season, posting a slash line of .303/.368/.570 with 19 home runs in just 84 games. However, things quickly fizzled out for the young infielders — Hiura led the National League in strikeouts in 2020, and Arcia was traded to the Atlanta Braves one week into the 2021 season after three straight disappointing years.

While Hiura struggled to find success, bouncing around a few different organizations, Arcia turned things around in a major way once he arrived in Atlanta. In his first season with the Braves, the team won the World Series, though Arcia went hitless during that postseason run. However, two seasons later, in 2023, Arcia made his first All-Star appearance with an impressive .294/.345/.424 slashline during the first half of the season. But after following that campaign with a poor showing in 2024 and a slow start to the 2025 season, the Braves designated Arcia for assignment on May 23, freeing him up to sign with the Rockies a few days later.

Meanwhile, Hiura, whose profile always seemed perfect for the thin air at Coors Field, signed a minor league contract with the Rockies this past offseason. After a solid showing for the Albuquerque Isotopes in Triple-A, Hiura was promoted to the Rockies' big-league roster on May 31, three days after the club signed Arcia.

Keston Hiura and Orlando Arcia back together again, playing for the Colorado Rockies

Recency bias aside, the Rockies are bad. Really bad. They could very well go down as the worst team in MLB history. Already, they've broken the record for the fastest team in MLB history to reach 50 losses, and they are on pace to lose 10 more games than the Chicago White Sox did a season ago. But maybe the recent additions of ex-Brewers Arcia and Hiura are just what the team needed to at least try to turn things around.

While neither Arcia nor Hiura has been particularly good in the few games that they've appeared in for the Rockies, the team as a whole has improved slightly since their arrival. The Rockies completed a three-game sweep of the Miami Marlins yesterday and are now 3-1 in games that both Arcia and Hiura have played in.

No one is expecting the Rockies to make some big turnaround. Heck, no one is even expecting them to crack the 40-win mark. But the situation is perfect for guys like Arcia and Hiura, who are trying to revive their careers. It's a low-pressure, opportunity-filled hitters’ paradise that allows each of them a chance to return to the potential they displayed early on in their careers.