Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon

Arcia keeps riding a hot hand for Aces

D-backs outfielder records second straight two-homer game
Oswaldo Arcia entered 2017 with 44 homers in 288 Major League games across parts of four seasons. (Reno Aces)
April 19, 2017

In a new system for a new season, Oswaldo Arcia tried a new approach. It's working out."Basically, what he's done, especially when he gets to two strikes, is shorten up his swing, shortened up his stride," interim Triple-A Reno manager Greg Gross said. "His swing this year has been a

In a new system for a new season, Oswaldo Arcia tried a new approach. It's working out.
"Basically, what he's done, especially when he gets to two strikes, is shorten up his swing, shortened up his stride," interim Triple-A Reno manager Greg Gross said. "His swing this year has been a lot more compact than I guess it used to be."
The 25-year-old outfielder recorded his second straight two-homer game and fourth consecutive multi-hit performance on Tuesday, driving in four runs and powering the Aces to a 7-4 win over the Isotopes at Albuquerque.

Box score
"He was -- and he still is, really -- pretty much a free swinger. He swings hard, but this season so far, in these first two weeks, he's been really very much under control," said Gross, the Aces hitting coach who's filling in while manager Jerry Narron subs for Ron Gardenhire as D-backs bench coach.
Entering his 10th year as a pro, Arcia spent time in with four organizations last season before signing a Minor League deal with Arizona in December. The Venezuela native and older brother of Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia has played 288 big league games, but only 88 have come in the last two years.
"I'm sure reality sets in at some point as you get a little older, with all the promise and stuff. This is the first I've seen him, so I can't speak to anything from his past," Gross said. "But he comes to the ballpark, he's one of the first guys here, and does his work. He busts it on the bases. He's played left and right field and he's hustled everywhere. He's done everything he could possibly do."
That includes starting out 17-for-41 (.415) with six extra-base hits and four walks. It took Arcia until Monday to hit his first dinger of the year, but he's suddenly in a five-way tie for third in the Pacific Coast League with four. The left-handed slugger pulled one jack and took the other to the opposite field on Monday.
"He's done a remarkable job. He hits the ball hard, hits the ball hard with two strikes," Gross said. "We've seen him hit home runs to all parts of the field."
His first-inning solo shot off Zach Jemiola went to dead center field and his three-run dinger in the sixth against Jemiola cleared the 428-foot sign in the same part of the park.

"He's just super-strong and he doesn't need to have as hard a swing as he does have, but that's been a part of a lot of people who've hit a lot of home runs in the past," Gross said. "He's taken a number of real hard swings, but when he's in stretch like he's in now, or in this zone, he's making great contact. He's just squaring balls up."

No. 18 D-backs prospectJack Reinheimer also homered for Reno, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored. 
Left-hander Anthony Banda, Arizona's top prospect, improved to 1-1 after allowing two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out five over 5 2/3 innings.
In a different kind of power performance, a crowd of 5,839 consumed 23,379 frankfurters on the Isotopes' 50-cent hot dog promotion.

Josh Jackson is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow and interact with him on Twitter, @JoshJacksonMiLB.