ST. LOUIS – Orlando Arcia, who exited Monday’s game because of dizziness, did not feel well throughout the night. So on Tuesday, the Braves sent him to a local hospital, where he underwent a battery of tests to determine the cause of the dizziness.
Those tests came back clean, Braves manager Brian Snitker said before Tuesday’s game was rained out.
“We’ll probably give him two or three days,” Snitker said. “We’ll look at him tomorrow and see – he might be available.”
After Monday’s game, Arcia politely declined comment through a team spokesman – which was understandable because he didn’t seem to be feeling great.
Snitker said it sounded like Arcia might’ve been dehydrated, but he later added that this wasn’t the official diagnosis. He just said that the testing returned clean and that Arcia felt dizziness.
Still, this was a concerning situation for Arcia.
“No, it is scary because you just don’t know what’s going on,” Snitker said. “You hope it isn’t anything. He’s a young man with children, and you just hope that it’s nothing bad. There might’ve been something going on anyway. We all get viruses and stuff like that. These guys, they’ll grind through and play through not feeling great. Hopefully we can rest him a little bit and get him hydrated and all that, and he can bounce back pretty good.”
Past his acknowledgement of how scary a situation like this can be, Snitker didn’t seem too concerned about Arcia. The Braves take a daily approach with injured or ill players, but Snitker appeared fairly confident that Arcia would be fine if the Braves let him rest for a couple days.
For the time being, the Braves added infield coverage by bringing up Luke Williams as the corresponding move for placing Brian Anderson (lower-body bacterial infection) on the 10-day injured list, backdated to June 22.
Williams is joining the big club, but Zack Short was in the lineup before Tuesday’s game was postponed. Short replaced Arcia for the bottom of the sixth inning Monday and likely will start at shortstop until Arcia returns.
The Braves received nice contributions from Short in May when Austin Riley was injured. Ramón Laureano has played well. Forrest Wall has held his own.
The Braves added Williams to their bench. Perhaps he’ll get an opportunity to contribute at some point.
“You’re fortunate when you have a lot of guys that are versatile and can play around (the diamond),” Snitker said. “Luke’s one of those guys: You can put him in the outfield, anywhere in the infield, he can pitch – and probably catch if you came right down to it and needed him. And Zack’s the same way.
“These guys are versatile, they know their roles, they prepare well. So it’s good to have guys like that, that are professional, they know how to take care of themselves, they understand. It’s big.”
Kudos to Raisel Iglesias
There is a group of elite closers in baseball. Raisel Iglesias is one of them.
Since the Braves acquired Iglesias in 2022, he has a 2.11 ERA – the fifth-best mark among relievers with at least 85 innings in that span. As a Brave, Iglesias has 54 saves.
He’s made Snitker’s job easier. Since Atlanta acquired him from the Angels, Iglesias hasn’t required a role change.
When the ninth inning arrives and he’s available, he’ll be in the game – which is worth a lot to a contending team like the Braves.
“Oh no, it’s awesome,” Snitker said. “It’s something that’s very important. If you got a good team and you’re winning a lot of games, man, you don’t like to let those things get away. It’s not a perfect science by any stretch, but when you have a reliable guy like Iggy that always wants the ball, it means a lot to your club.”
Hayden Harris promoted to Triple A
In spring training, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote a story about Hayden Harris, a lefty who grew up a Braves fan. He was in big-league camp, and he has a really interesting story: He went undrafted, but used LinkedIn to keep in touch with scouts from various organizations.
The Braves had already scouted Harris, a Georgia Southern product, before the draft. They were familiar with him. After he went undrafted, they signed him to be in their system.
This was in 2022.
On Tuesday, Harris officially joined Triple-A Gwinnett. He joins the Stripers after posting a 1.74 ERA across 19 relief appearances for Double-A Mississippi. Harris struck out 34 batters over 20 2/3 innings before the promotion to Triple A.
Harris has deception in his delivery. He has a good four-seam fastball and has worked on fine-tuning his slider.
Now, Harris is on the doorstep of the majors.
About the Author
