Braves continue to look genius for not staying tied to Vaughn Grissom

The Atlanta Braves’ confidence in shortstop Orlando Arcia has paid off, as he hit a game-winning home run on Wednesday against the Texas Rangers.

The Atlanta Braves have been pretty steadfast in their belief in certain players. We have seen the trust they had in designated hitter Marcell Ozuna, who has broken out of a slump as of this month. There is also shortstop Orlando Arcia, who was named the starting shortstop and played well before hitting the injured list with a microfracture in his left wrist. Vaughn Grissom filled in and was sent down once Arcia was healthy.

Arcia has shown the Braves that they have made the right decision in terms of making him the starter before the season and upon getting activated from the injured list.

On Wednesday night, the Braves were tied 5-5 with the red-hot Texas Rangers. Arcia stepped up to the plate and on an 0-1 count, he crushed a solo home run over the right field fence at Globe Life Field to give Atlanta a 6-5 lead.

Braves SS Orlando Arcia crushes game-winning home run vs. Rangers

This was Arcia’s lone hit of the game, but it made all the difference.

In this series, Arcia had been on fire. On Monday, he hit a two-run homer and scored three runs. The following day, the shortstop put Atlanta on the board early with an RBI single in the 7-4 loss. Now, he has a game-winning home run to give the Braves the series.

Overall, Arcia went 5-for-9 with two home runs, three RBI, four runs scored, three walks, and zero strikeouts against Texas.

On the year, Arcia has recorded a .342 batting average, a .405 on-base percentage, a .592 slugging percentage, a .997 OPS, four home runs, 12 RBI, 15 runs scored, and 26 hits.

While Grissom did play well filling in for Arcia (.277 batting average, .314 on-base percentage, .308 slugging percentage, seven RBI, 18 hits), the veteran has shown that he brings a lot to the table early on this year. Wednesday’s game-winning homer is proof of that.