Arizona Diamondbacks sign Oswaldo Arcia

Left-handed batter Oswaldo Arcia appeared in the majors for a slew of different teams in 2016. He started off with the Twins, the team who signed him as an amateur free agent in 2007, and was dealt to the Rays in June, for a player (still) to be named. Then, in August, he was picked up on waivers twice in the same week, first by Tampa’s Florida siblings in Miami, and then from the Marlins by the Padres. San Diego then released him last month, making the Diamondbacks his fifth organization of the year.

Arcia’s problem is obvious. Since making his major-league debut in 2013, he has a K-rate of 31.5%. That ranks him 8th among the 297 batters who have had 1000+ PA in the majors over that time. With a walk-rate of only 7.1%, that’s partly why his overall value by fWAR has been one win below replacement level - though he’s not exactly loved by the defensive metrics either. When he makes contact, Oswaldo’s bat hasn’t been terrible, with a career OPS of .720 (OPS+ = 97), which increases to .771 against right-handed pitching. That’s mostly the result of decent power: Arcia has 44 home-runs in a total of 983 at-bats. Last season, he had eight HR in 202 AB across the four teams for which he played.

ryeandi described Arcia this morning as “Hazelbaker 2.0”, and that’s a fairly accurate assessment, since both are fringey, left-handed hitting outfielders, with identical career batting averages of 235. Hazelbaker possesses a three-point edge in on-base percentage, and seems to have the edge in power too this year, hitting a dozen HR in 200 AB with the Cardinals. He would seem to have the lead, not least because Hazelbaker is on the 40-man roster for Arizona, while it appears Arcias will not be getting such a slot at this point.

The signing had been rumored as imminent since this morning, and was Initially reported by Jon Heyman of Fanrag Sports, with Nick Piecoro subsequently chipping in on Twitter that it was a minor-league deal.