Braves acquire Orlando Arcia from Brewers, per report

The Braves have acquired infielder Orlando Arcia from the Brewers in exchange for relievers Patrick Weigel and Chad Sobotka, as The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and MLB.com’s Mark Bowman first reported Tuesday.

Arcia, 26, was widely regarded as a top-10 prospect in the game during the middle of the last decade, but he’s had a disappointing major league career. The .244/.293/.364 career hitter has never posted an above-average OPS+ over five major league seasons (plus four games of a sixth), and while he played solid defense at shortstop over the first four seasons of his major league career, he posted a career-worst -4 defensive runs saved at short last season.

Arcia was moved to third base this season to make room for Luis Urías at shortstop. It remains to be seen whether he’ll shift back to shortstop in Atlanta — or, for that matter, whether he’ll even start out with the big-league club. Spring standout Ehire Adrianza made Atlanta’s roster and is currently the backup shortstop behind Dansby Swanson, though he’s been away from the team to go through COVID intake testing after traveling to become a U.S. citizen over the weekend. Arcia will also have to go through the intake process before he joins the Braves, so the club may suddenly have a surplus of middle infielders in a few days.

Weigel, a 6-foot-6, 240-pound right-hander, was ranked as the No. 12 prospect in Atlanta’s system by MLB Pipeline. He made his major league debut last September and allowed two earned runs over 0.2 innings of relief. The 26-year-old was stellar in his last minor league season, posting a 2.73 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP over 28 appearances (18 starts) split between Double-A Mississippi and Triple-A Gwinnett.

Sobotka, 27, has struggled over his last two big-league seasons, posting a 6.89 ERA and 1.68 WHIP over his last 36 relief appearances after getting off to a stellar start to his major league career with a 1.88 WHIP and 0.98 WHIP over 14 relief outings in 2018. Along with Weigel, he’ll initially report to the Brewers’ alternate training site and look to work out flaws as he prepares for a return to the big leagues.