Rolling with Hiura

[torts]

18 hours ago, wntrtxn21 said:

With Urias out, I can't see how Hiura makes the club unless he replaces Tellez at 1B. They signed McCuthen to be the RH DH and play LF when Yelich DHs. So the bench looks like:  McCutchen(DH/LF) - Taylor (4th OF) - Peterson or Brosseau (1B-2B-3B) - Severino (C) - Reyes or Turang (SS). Taylor plays CF when Cain sits. W/o Urias, the Brewers have to have someone who can play SS if Adames gets hurt during the game. Peterson/Brosseau don't play SS so that means either Reyes or Turang have to be on the roster until Urias returns. With McCutchen/Yelich the DHs and very few LH starters in the Central, I don't know how CC could get enough ABs for Hiura even when Urias comes back. 

No way turang makes opening day.  that should be in blue, right?  Hiura makes the team in place of Reyes, and is the first to swap down to Nashville with reyes if his bat does not stay hot.  It's that simple.  

[MVP2110]

33 minutes ago, JohnBriggs12 said:

Ok, so Hiura let's assume he continues to hit the last 10 days in Arizona and makes the club.  Barring an injury somewhere, finding enough AB's for him to test how it carries over is a real problem.  Taylor's been just as hot and he needs ABs somewhere too.  Spelling Cutch at DH vs RH makes some sense.  Then the question comes how long do you give him?  Till Mother's Day?  What if he's really raking?  Who do you sit?  Do you think about dealing Wong and sacrifice defense?  I guess you platoon McCutcheon and Tellez.

This is a great problem to have. Injuries are going to pop up this year. Yelich has gotten hurt quite a bit the last few years, Cutch and Cain are older and likely to spend time on the IL, other injuries will pop up. If everyone stays healthy and they can't find enough ABs for good hitters I'll gladly take that problem

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

1 hour ago, torts said:

No way turang makes opening day.  that should be in blue, right?  Hiura makes the team in place of Reyes, and is the first to swap down to Nashville with reyes if his bat does not stay hot.  It's that simple.  

So in this scenario, who plays 3B on opening day? Peterson? Brousseau? Also, Urias is the backup SS. I doubt they go into the season with only Adames and nothing else at that position. I suppose Peterson may be able to play there if they get desperate, but I kinda doubt it.

[Jopal78]

43 minutes ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

So in this scenario, who plays 3B on opening day? Peterson? Brousseau? Also, Urias is the backup SS. I doubt they go into the season with only Adames and nothing else at that position. I suppose Peterson may be able to play there if they get desperate, but I kinda doubt it.

RHP                                                  LHP

1- Pitcher                                          Pitcher

2-Narvaez                                        Narvaez

3-Tellez                                            Tellez

4-Wong                                            Wong

5-Peterson                                       Brosseau

6-Adames                                        Adames

7-Yelcih                                            Yelich

8-Cain                                              Cain

9-Renfroe                                        Renfroe

DH-Hiura                                          McCutcheon

 

Brosseau was a college short stop, I'm sure he could play SS in a pinch in the majors. They will have Pablo Reyes on the MLB club at least until Urias is healthy. I would bet the manager likely plays McCutcheon and Hiura at DH primarily but will roll all the players through at DH, and keep the hitters with the hot bats in the lineup. 

[monty57]

1 hour ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

So in this scenario, who plays 3B on opening day? Peterson? Brousseau? Also, Urias is the backup SS. I doubt they go into the season with only Adames and nothing else at that position. I suppose Peterson may be able to play there if they get desperate, but I kinda doubt it.

I agree with Jopal that Peterson and Brosseau will platoon at third until Urias is back. Hopefully Urias isn't out long, so I'd expect Adames to play every day until Urias is off the IL. Therefore, we'd only need an "emergency SS" which Brosseau and/or Peterson should be able to cover.

[bork]

With a 28 man roster, Reyes likely makes the opening day roster and can backup SS if needed.

[CheezWizHed]

On 3/23/2022 at 10:46 PM, homer said:

It's nice he's off to a hot start but he had a 935 OPS last spring. His swing did look better to me but I'd have to see one from last year to say if there's a difference.

Here is a good side-by-side showing a smaller step:

And a good video comp showing the toe-tap is gone: https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ZigzagLikelyLadybug-mobile.mp4

Source: https://www.brewcrewball.com/2022/3/24/22994116/milwaukee-brewers-what-to-make-of-keston-hiuras-early-spring-training-success

[homer]

2 hours ago, CheezWizHed said:

Here is a good side-by-side showing a smaller step:

And a good video comp showing the toe-tap is gone: https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ZigzagLikelyLadybug-mobile.mp4

Source: https://www.brewcrewball.com/2022/3/24/22994116/milwaukee-brewers-what-to-make-of-keston-hiuras-early-spring-training-success

For me its his hands. I would love a frame by frame comparison. There was a weird loop the last year or so. The one on the right (new one) his hands appear to be higher but that could just be that he's further along in the swing. 

[CheezWizHed]

It all starts with his base though.  On the left (especially in the video), he is so off balance; so many moving parts.  He is practically standing like flamingo on one leg.  If he starts a bit too early or tips just a bit off balance he literally has no chance to compensate. On the right, his center of balance is much lower and he has much more control. 

Maybe he still needs work on his hands, but this has to be so much easier to work off of. 

[Fear The Chorizo]

It's not just the leg kick, and it's not just the hands - it's the entire load mechanism and how he needed to get back in sync.  Hiura's hand speed with his swing is elite, so much so that the leg kick and other pre load items likely got built into his swing in the first place as a way to hold his hands back to keep them from getting in front of his lower half - it's why when Hiura is going good he is driving fastballs up the middle - right center.

Last season he just seemed completely out of whack - his leg kick was so pronounced that he wasn't getting his front foot down early enough to even start swinging to catch up to velocity, and his hands weren't in the right spot to just fire at the ball when his lower half was starting to swing.  Being out of sync against MLB pitching just doesn't work - with Hiura's hand speed it probably doesn't require a huge change to how his swing looks to get back to being a really good hitter, just simplifying things a bit to reduce the moving parts.

I think Hiura will always have some issues with high velocity up in the zone - most hitters do.  However, simplifying his load mechanism even slight bit should give him the opportunity to cut that huge hole in his swing almost all pitchers exploited the last couple seasons down to something where he's going to be able to hit velo much more frequently.

[markedman5]

First time up……fastball leaks back over the middle……rocket off the left field wall.

[torts]

Spring has me excited for keston!!!!  I brewlieve!!!!

[markedman5]

Homer. number 4 for Hiura.

[brewers888]

I have more confidence in Hiura than Yelich right now. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Spicy K update from the patron Saint of Whitefish Bay via Mr. Hogg:

LFG Kesty. I am SO rooting for a 2019 renaissance for the young man. 

[Joseph Zarr]

1 hour ago, brewers888 said:

I have more confidence in Hiura than Yelich right now. 

I really wish I could disagree with you. But, well, I can't.

 

[wallus]

Motion to ban posters calling Keston Spicy K.

[Joseph Zarr]

5 minutes ago, wallus said:

Motion to ban posters calling Keston Spicy K.

What's wrong with 'Spicy K'. LOL. I was formerly calling him 'Kesty'. I found that wayyyyyy more annoying. LOL.

[wallus]

Just now, Julio Muchacho said:

What's wrong with 'Spicy K'. LOL. I was formerly calling him 'Kesty'. I found that wayyyyyy more annoying. LOL.

 

What is right with it? I don't see how it makes sense.

[Joseph Zarr]

2 minutes ago, wallus said:

 

What is right with it? I don't see how it makes sense.

Well, there isn't anything 'right' with it. I was jokingly using it when his bat started 'heating' up. I'm not married to using it in every post. Fear not.

Edit to Add: I'm simply having fun in the doldrums of 2 weeks of ST...if he keeps ringing up HR and bats like this, tho, you might have to get used to my occasional usage.

[Joseph Zarr]

Also, @wallus: If you give me a better nickname, I'm all for it. Admittedly, for some inexplicable reason, I have a hard time using 'Hiura', 'Keston', or (please no) 'Special K'. I'm all ears if you have ideas. Let 'em rip if you have some.

[wallus]

7 minutes ago, Julio Muchacho said:

Also, @wallus: If you give me a better nickname, I'm all for it. Admittedly, for some inexplicable reason, I have a hard time using 'Hiura', 'Keston', or (please no) 'Special K'. I'm all ears if you have ideas. Let 'em rip if you have some.

I've seen some call him Kestdaddy and that is his Twitter handle. Not great but at least it makes sense.

[Robocaller]

2 hours ago, wallus said:

I've seen some call him Kestdaddy and that is his Twitter handle. Not great but at least it makes sense.

The K-hole?

[Underachiever]

Well, since he came in this year ready to hit, how about Swinging K? 

No, wait...

[torts]

23 hours ago, wallus said:

I've seen some call him Kestdaddy and that is his Twitter handle. Not great but at least it makes sense.

No, it's great