The Braves made a move to improve their bench today, acquiring Orlando Arcia from the Brewers. Arcia is a versatile defender that can play all over the diamond and has had some hot stretches with the bat. Think of him as this year’s version of Adeiny Hechavarria. In return, the Brewers are getting Patrick Weigel and Chad Sobotka.
The Braves moving on from Sobotka was just a matter of time. After pitching splendidly in 2018, he’s been a mess on the mound, recording a 6.21 ERA in 2019 and 12.27 ERA in 2020. He struggled in Spring Training this year as well, and if he wasn’t included in a trade, he would likely have been designated for assignment.
The prize for the Brewers in this deal is Patrick Weigel. We currently had him ranked 19th among the Braves prospects. FanGraphs had him slightly lower at #23.
The 26-year-old Weigel made his MLB debut during the shortened 2020 season, giving up two earned runs in just 0.2 innings. However, it’s not fair to judge him off that one outing. Weigel was fantastic over two levels of the minors in 2019, posting a 1.72 ERA in Mississippi and 2.98 ERA in Gwinnett. He’s about as close to MLB-ready as pitching prospects come; however, it was always going to be challenging for him to carve out a role in Atlanta, given how many young arms the Braves have at their disposal.
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