Oswaldo Arcia To Sign With Japan’s Nippon Ham Fighters

Free agent outfielder Oswaldo Arcia has agreed to a deal with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan, FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets (citing Arcia’s agent, Martin Arburua). The former top prospect will take home a $1.7MM salary plus up to $300K worth of incentives on a one-year deal that contains a mutual option for the 2019 campaign.

The older brother of Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia, Oswaldo ranked among the game’s top overall prospects as a member of the Twins farm prior to the 2013 season and held his own at the plate in 2013-14 in Minnesota despite debuting in the Majors as a 21-year-old. However, the elder Arcia never carried much in the way of defensive value, and as his bat regressed over the next two seasons, he became an expendable piece in the eyes of big league clubs.

Arcia, who’ll turn 27 next May, played with four teams in the Majors in 2016, suiting up for the Twins, Rays, Padres and Marlins while posting a combined .203/.270/.366 batting line in 222 plate appearances. Those struggles, unsurprisingly, resulted in a minor league contract last offseason. He latched on with the D-backs and crushed Triple-A pitching at a .326/.410/.639 clip through 400 plate appearances last season (albeit in the extremely hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League).

Arcia has struck out in 31.6 percent of his plate appearances but shown plenty of power against right-handed pitching in the Majors, as evidenced by a career .239/.309/.462 batting line when holding the platoon advantage. However, he’s been limited to a dismal .226/.271/.334 slash when facing fellow lefties. He’s limited to the outfield corners and designated hitter, from a defensive standpoint.