MLB Rumors: Orlando Arcia, Braves Agree to New Contract; Won World Series in 2021

After winning the starting shortstop job in spring training, Orlando Arcia has agreed to a contract extension with the Atlanta Braves.

Per Robert Murray of Fansided, the 28-year-old will sign a three-year, $7.3 million deal with the Braves through the 2025 season that includes a team option for 2026.

Mark Bowman of MLB.com confirmed the agreement.

Arcia, who was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in April 2021, won a World Series title with the Braves during his first season with the club.

There was some surprise out of Braves camp when Vaughn Grissom and Braden Shewmake were optioned to Triple-A on March 21 to start the regular season.

General manager Alex Anthopoulos went on The Steakhouse podcast (h/t Logan Mullen of Audacy.com) on March 28 to explain the decision to go with Arcia over the two highly-touted prospects at shortstop to begin the year:

"We like Orlando Arcia a lot. And I think that's the biggest key to this, it's not because Grissom and Shewmake didn't play well. And Shewmake wasn't expected to be a contender because he ended the season on the IL and he missed time, so we weren't even factoring him, but he worked his way into the conversation. … Our biggest issue was we weren't prepared to put (Arcia) on the bench, because if a young guy was going to make the team, Arcia wasn't going to play. We just weren't prepared to pull the plug on the opportunity for him to get at-bats. So we want to give him a shot and see how it goes, hopefully he takes the opportunity and runs with it, Grissom and Shewmake play well, and then we have a good problem on our hands."

Grissom did come into spring training with questions about his readiness to play shortstop at the MLB level. The 22-year-old certainly hit well enough to break camp with the club. He posted a .371/.400/.429 slash line in 35 at-bats.

Last year was a huge step forward for Grissom's development. He began the season in High-A and wound up appearing in 41 MLB games, posting a .792 OPS with five homers.

Grissom lost his rookie eligibility for 2023 by recording 141 at-bats in the big leagues last season. Shewmake is Atlanta's No. 6 prospect coming into the year, per MLB.com.

Arcia only played in 67 games last season and had a six-week stint on the injured list late in the year due to a strained hamstring. He did have best offensive season in 2022 with a .244/.316/.416 slash line and nine homers in 209 at-bats.

The Braves used Arcia primarily at second base last year, but he also spent time at third base, shortstop and left field. He will be given first crack at being Dansby Swanson's replacement at shortstop in 2023.

But the low cost of Arcia's contract doesn't preclude Atlanta from calling up Grissom or Shewmake to be the primary shortstop when the team feels either player is ready to handle the job.