2:20PM: Hiura has been officially called up, with the Brewers announcing that right-hander Alec Bettinger was optioned to Triple-A. In addition, Jace Peterson was reinstated from the 10-day injured list and then designated for assignment.
10:19AM: The Brewers are returning infielder Keston Hiura to the big league club, per Robert Murray of FanSided (via Twitter). The Brewers have not yet announced the move, nor do we know the corresponding roster move at this time.
Hiura had one of the more disappointing starts to the season, slashing just .152/.247/.266 in 89 plate appearances before his demotion. The 24-year-old seems to have figured something out in Triple-A, however. In nine games with the Nashville Sounds, Hiura mashed to the tune of .438/.526/.906 with three home runs in 38 plate appearances. Obviously, that doesn’t guarantee that Hiura has fixed whatever ails him, but it’s a step in the right direction.
With the recent Willy Adames trade, the Brewers now feature a full infield. Adames, Kolten Wong, Daniel Vogelbach, Luis Urias, Travis Shaw, and Daniel Robertson are all in the mix for infield reps. With Hiura, that’s seven players for four positions. Hiura also makes 14 position players, which is almost certainly one more than the team is willing to carry at a time, so somebody will be on the move. Urias and outfielder Tyrone Taylor are the only two players with options remaining.
I have to admit, I had no idea how bad he has been since 2019.
The pandemic killing my fantasy leagues has definitely left me less informed
Never should have sent him down in the first place tho
Easy way to gain an additional year of service time without looking like you manipulated the system like the Cubs with Bryant. Brilliant move by the Brewers.
Come on, man. The guy has a 76 wRC+, .286 wOBA and a strikeout rate of 35% since the begining of the 2020 season. If you’re struggling that bad at the plate, it’s not service time manipulation. It’s sending you down to get your swing back in check.
I’m not saying that it is manipulation here. I was just pointing out how manipulation is not needed in most cases because young players will go through a slump some time in their first three years. Then you can send them down, get the same extra year, and not get the bad PR of manipulating the start of their career.
The Rockies made that mistake with Trevor Story. They didn’t manipulate his time and he started off ultra hot. But in his second year, he had a horrible slump in the summer. The Rockies could have demoted him for a few weeks and gained another year of him. But they didn’t. and are now poised to lose him for nothing but a draft pick.
Not every instance where a young player gets sent down has to do with service time, or gaining that extra year. I just hate how anytime a young player (mostly happens with top prospects) is sent down, someone has to mention service time manipulation, or something of the sort. I remember how many times people were saying that Kelenic was ready, he needs to be called up, they’re just going to manipulate his service time, even though he didn’t even have 100 PA’s above A-Ball. Here he is in the majors with just 5 hits in 40 plate appearances and a negative bWAR/fWAR.
He wasn’t going through a “slump.” He was trying to balance the pressure of underperforming with family news that was distressing. Going down allowed him to visit his mom. Get some solid swings in — without the pressure of the MLB — and (hopefully) get his game back. It wasn’t a typical demotion. Had the Brewers NOT done it they would have been jerks. And possibly ruined him.
Doesn’t matter the reason behind it, the end result is the same. A fireman running into a burning building to save a child and an arsonist grabbing a child on the way out of a building he just set on fire results in the same saved child just with very different reasons for the result.
At what point does a “slump” become just straight up underperforming? He played just over a half season (85 games to be exact) between 2020 and 2021 and had a wRC+ below 80.
Again, this is not specifically about Hiura. I was just pointing out how easy it could be to manipulate the system without being as obvious as doing it at the beginning. Hiura may never recover and could suck the rest of his career OR he could recover completely and go on to a HOF career. It doesn’t matter. The point is that a team can recover those two weeks at some point after a player debuts just by waiting for a slump of any type.
Thanks for bringing something totally off-topic into the conversation.
Mlb1225….Ot seemed hiflew was bringing up allowing a young player to work on some issues now the minors while ALSO the benefit to the organization of possibly gaining an extra year of control.
Thank you for being the one person able to see what I actually wrote instead of what people THINK I wrote. I get so sick of people reading a post and then adding something totally different or changing something in their own mind. It just gets so old.
cmon man. he couldnt hit water if he fell into a pool when he was sent down. it was needed.
Yeah he needed to go down. Anything high in zone and he misses. Hopefully he found something now.
Manipulating service time on a guy who’s a fringe big leaguer….doesn’t work that way. 99%+ of players do not need their service time manipulated as there is more loss not having that person on the field in the moment vs saving a couple mill down the road or gaining another year of control. You have to be elite and project to make some 20 mil in arbitration for it to be worth it to the franchise.
Fair points bot, however he is only 24 and was frequently on top prospect lists prior to debut (#6 prior to call up I believe).
He had “plus-plus hit tools” and plus-power that had people considering him as a future All-Star before he even played a single inning. Then he debuted with a .303/.368/.570 with 19 HR and nine steals in 348 MLB PAs.
This definitely qualifies as someone the Brewers would like to have an extra year of control over, so it’s not completely unrealistic. But yeah, he needed to get right in a bad way.
@Technically….In addition, projections for his hit tool were high based upon his college career.
He was completely lost – it was the right move. Maybe a boost of confidence and the ability to try things that he didn’t feel comfortable doing with the big league club. Lots of guys were pressing and I’m sure they could feel the pressure. When he was hot you could see his eyes on the ball right through the entire swing. Earlier this year he was just swinging and not following the ball at all. Hopefully it lets him just reset.
Now who goes down is a tough one. I think Vogelbach gets designated, but maybe they’re at a point with Urias that they’ll option him. Seems odd all the time they gave Arica and they cut bait so quickly with Urias.
You make a lot of good points!
I dont think they are cutting bait with Urias though. They traded Arcia to let Urias get more of a chance so no, i dont think hes going to be sent down. With Shaw now struggling im sure he will see some time at 3rd too. Its time for Daniel Vogelbach to go.
He has had a miserable time this year.
Urias makes the most sense. He’s not going to get better sitting on the bench in the majors. Plus, he still has too much potential at this point to be a bench guy.
Urias will find plenty of playing time. Get rid of vogelbach. Shaw can move to first. They can platoon just like they do nicely in the outfield with plenty of ABs to go around.
Of course they should have sent him down, he hit 150 with a 36% k rate.
He did better now but even in AAA he struck out 34% of the time.
Interestingly in 2018 in AA he only struck out 18% of the time but he also only hit 6 homers. Then next year his homers jumped and so did his K rate.
I guess he was selling out for power and swinging out of his shoes.
He needs to find a happy medium, power is good but mid 30s K rate is not going to work, Ks are higher now but above 30 still is critical.
I am waiting for the real ‘Hero” to show up! If he can hit .250, and pump out home runs, here we come. He is our clean up hitter like Yellie is our 3rd hitter! Predict Robertson or DV leaves! The Barrelll man has not hit !
Apparently his mom was having serious medical issues so im assuming his head wasnt into playing. Add that into learning a new position, and the pressure of being Yelis protection. Sometimes a minors stint can be relaxing and get your mind right. Plus his big leg kick doesnt help. Is always off balanced it seems.
Lets hope hes back to what we know he can do, hes a good kid.
American Family Field
When I am having a senior moment, I call it County Stadium!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_baseball_parks_in_Milwaukee
I go with Al Simmons Field myself.
He had one of the worst contact rates in BB. Sending him down wasn’t manipulation, it was mercy. He’s got the hit tool, send him down to try and figure it out. If he can get to 28% K rate and get his SS% in the teens again he’ll be fine. He got to make more contact as well and quit trying to get the beer guy down the slide in every swing.
exactly. When he makes contact, its seems to be barreled up.
His issue is MAKING contact. seems to be the issue for 90% of the league though.
This Brewers team has had a major rough stretch (largely due to injuries), but on paper they look darn good and playoff caliber.
This lineup isnt half bad. Still not going to win a lot without good pitching/defense but if most an remain healthy we could easily finish 13-18 in runs/game.
1. Wong
2. Adames
3. Yelich
4. Garcia
5. Narvaez
6. Hiura
7. Shaw/Urias
8. JBJ/Cain
Plus if Shaw/Hiura cant turn it around, corner IF aren’t usually super expensive at the deadline. Can imagine players like OFs Taylor, Lutz or LHP Small would be enticing for teams.
Taylor’s going back down, with Yeli Cain JBJ and Garcia they have 4 starters and Robertson can fill in for corner outfielders in a pinch and they seem to really like him. Vogelbach stays but cedes playing time to Keston. Urias backs up Adames Shaw and Wong with the aforementioned Robertson. Taylor will be their starting RF next season most likely if Garcia and JBJ are both gone. If JBJ sticks around one more year then he and Cain and Taylor will time share CF and RF. Brewers need production from that 1B spot in the worst way.
Seems to me that they don’t need Vogelbach. He’s awful at first and is a DH that doesn’t hit well enough.
Hiura should be the first baseman. Urias should be the 3rd baseman. Robertson is the backup SS. Shaw can do what Vogelbach does and more. He backs up at 1B, 2B and 3B.
Overhyped
Who Shaw or Hero?
Kolten Wong sucks.
Do you even watch baseball? Guys that have 2 golden gloves do not suck.
Given that Rafael Palmeiro once won a Gold Glove as a DH doesn’t support that argument. However, i agree that Wong doesn’t “suck” (though he is a vacuum at 2B) he’s just never been much of an offensive threat. It’s why he generally hit at the bottom of the order for the Cardinals throughout his career. The Brewers are using him in spots he’s not accustomed to which isn’t helping his results at the plate
I mean he’s batting 280 with a 355 obp I’d be happy with that out of a leadoff hitter for a whole season. And using the Palmeiro argument is really stretching it, one example from over 20 years ago does not prove the gold gloves mean nothing
Derek Jeter won 5 Gold Gloves after he was basically terrible defensively at that point in his career (2004-06,’09,’11)
A lot of the time in the past, Gold Gloves were a popularity contests. Same with Silver Sluggers.
ops+ of 114. He doesn’t suck. Don’t be obtuse.
Evan White is the proof that Golden Gloves are no longer a popularity contest
The Jeter example is a good one, he was essentially the golden boy of major league baseball at that point and certainly didn’t deserve to win the last two.
Angel advocate disappears when asked a question. He is an irritant. KW is a great player!
I’m not sure what the Brewers plans are moving forward but 1B continues to be a huge hole for them since Prince Fielder left. Looking at how terrible Brewer First Basemen have been this season its makes the fact that C.J. Cron lasted long enough in free agency to be signed to a minor league contract with the Rockies look that much more strange
Corey Hart, Adam Lind, Jesus Aguilar and Eric Thames would like to have a word with you.
You can throw Chris Carter in that mix and my point is still valid. The position has been a revolving door since the end of the 2011 season
The key is that these guys did well at times. They were hindered by being moved on when they had a minor blimp in their seasons! Rent a player does not work very well, in most cases!
I think in a couple weeks I think your going to see Vogel get dfa’d to make room for Lopes coming off the 60 day. Then that will give you Huira, Wong, Adames, Shaw as your infield with Lopes and Urias as reserves and frankly they will find those two plenty at bats as super utility guys. Send Taylor back down to get some steady at bats. Now Fischer , Vogel, and McKinley will all be dfa’d. Then once Taylor gets on track again, I could honestly see the Brewers trying to trade 2 of the 3 of JBJ, Cain and Garcia away. Preferably Cain and Garcia. I could live with an outfield of Yellich JBJ, and Taylor. Then see if you can sign Braun back to be your Super pinch hitter. To be able to pick any time for him to hit in late innings with guys in scoring position he would rake at it. I think this would be the best case scenario.
Stubby, JBJ is not preferable to Cain in any realistic way. He’s painful to watch at bat. Garcia is also a better bat at a cheaper price. Brauny isn’t coming back or he’d be back already.
I agree that Cain would be better then JBJ but at this point is anyone really going to take him off our hands and Garcias stats at this point are garbage his production comes when they make no bearing on the outcome of the game so in that case let’s see if we can get his salary off our books. Either way the only way we can improve our team through trades is if we get rid of Ashby or Smalls which I really don’t want them to do because if it was up to me the rotation after the all star break should and could be Woodruff, Burnes, Peralta, Ashby, Houser, and Small.
Stubby: I do like your idea of the 6 man rotation. You have a great creative mind! Keep up the good chats!
Please no more Braun! Unless he starts he is terrible! I believe he has a pinch hitting average of about ..100! He gets hurt all the time. Let him enjoy his retirement in the Hall of Very Good He was an overpaid ham and Egger for the past two years!
His mother was sick and it messed up his head. Not surprised he started raking in direct correspondence to her recovery.
It seems like it’s been a month since Tyrone Taylor had a hit, so I’d guess that he’ll be the odd man out. Vogelbach isn’t real exciting either but it’s always nice to have left handed power on the bench. Anyways, I hope Keston’s Mom is on her way to recovery and doing well, and I also hope Keston’s bat comes around to help this severely struggling offense.
AMEN! AMEN! And AMEN!
I still contend that the launch angle craze has hurt him.
Hiura Is a bust.