The Minnesota Twins have suffered its first hit in Spring Training. Number five prospect and number 93 overall, Oswaldo Arcia, left Friday’s action with a pulled intercoastal muscle and has no timetable on his return.
The injury comes as a frustrating one for Ron Gardenhire and his big league club. Arcia was expected to see a lot of action and was the starting right fielder for Friday’s game against the Rays until the injury surfaced. Results from Twins’ Doctors should be available later on Saturday, and Arcia is expected to miss a good chunk of Spring Training.
Though the 21 year old had an outside shot of making the big league club straight out of Spring Training, that is now a near impossibility given that Twins management will not be able to monitor their promising outfielder in game action. Until the injury, Arcia was expected to compete with Chris Parmelee, who was the projected starter to open the season and now is all but a sure thing.
The more likely outcome for Arcia will be starting the season in AAA Rochester, where early success can force the issue sometime in May or June. That will, of course, rely on following up on a breakout minor league season in 2012. Arcia hit: .320/.388/.539 with 17 HR and 36 doubles in 124 games in 2012. The success was split between A and AA affiliates for the Twins. With 98 RBI and 53 extra base hits in just 534 AB, Arcia jumped up the prospect list and projects to have some pop at the Major League level.
Baseball America favors Arcia much more highly compared to MLB.com’s #93 ranking. The well-known minor league publication has the lefty hitter as the 41st best prospect in baseball. It may be delayed a couple of months, but there’s a good chance we will see what Arcia has to offer at the Major League level in 2013.
