Hiura Slighted and Demoted; Adames hitting #2 with a .289 OBP

[Outlander]

No that isn't the posters point at all, was saying how it is and not what it should be. However,  for the most part it has not been a rotational spot. 

Even in Arnold's short time has acquired Winker and Voit, not much defense there. 

[Lathund]

I misread his post. I guess it seemed to absurd to be saying that Brewers were using it for rotation when they had signed Cutch/Winker/Voit, so I suppose my brain thought it was the other way around. 

[rickh150]

23 hours ago, sveumrules said:

Is it though?

DH plate appearances since 2022…

Cutch (360) Yelich (171) Winker (131) Hiura (96) Tellez (78)

From there it drops down to Renfroe (29) Contreras (28) Voit (26) Ruf (24)

Those are all pretty much bat only players and primary DHs. They just haven’t been delivering.

Cutch, Winker, Hiura, Voit and Ruf account for 637 of the Brewers 997 DH PAs since 2022, so it’s been used much more by primary DHs than it has been to rotate position players for a rest.

 

Cutch, Yelich and Renfroe (22) are outfielders who rotated days off there.  For sake of defensive roster flexibility in September, Cutch hit DH regularly, where he ended the year with a .653 OPS as DH, about 100 points different than when he played in field.  Hiura (.866 RHP) was an offensive option available.

Winker, Voit, and Ruf are the supposed offense/little defense guys.  Problems abound here with the bats, though. Winker and Ruff were bad hitters last year and really this year too. Winker could have been offensive DH with a high OBP. He has some history hitting well so it was worth a shot. I’m ok with the gamble and the added at bats.

However, even with Winker’s big AB #’s amid struggles, we have pulled in and out 11 DH in our lineup this year. That’s a big number hitting DH on June 25. We are in need of offense in general and offense especially from a spot designed to be for a better bat and not filler back ups or 4th outfielders.  Gotta feel Hiura, Black, and Frelick (probably OF, though) are options there this season…. if Black not now at this point in season, especially later in August and September if he continues.

[rickh150]

And Hiura hit .953 OPS as a DH last year….exactly 300 points more than McCutchen (.653)

Cutch ABs at DH——324

Hiura—- 83

 

[wiguy94]

3 minutes ago, rickh150 said:

And Hiura hit .953 as a DH last year….exactly 300 points there than McCutchen (.653)

Cutch ABs at DH——324

Hiura—- 83

 

Rick, I think you've beaten the horse to death on this topic at this point.

[rickh150]

1 minute ago, wiguy94 said:

Rick, I think you've beaten the horse to death on this topic at this point.

Hiura is still in AAA, correct? He’s living and playing baseball well at AAA, correct? And I am in the right thread, I think.
And our DH spot… what is it hitting exactly? 
Sadly the issue is alive and not well for the Brewers.
I will take your advice and limit the talk here, 
 

[wiguy94]

7 minutes ago, rickh150 said:

Hiura is still in AAA, correct? He’s living and playing baseball well at AAA, correct? And I am in the right thread, I think.
And our DH spot… what is it hitting exactly? 
Sadly the issue is alive and not well for the Brewers.
I will take your advice and limit the talk here, 
 

Since returning from the IL, he has an 81 wRC+ and 26% K-rate, so no he's not playing well right now. 

[sveumrules]

4 hours ago, rickh150 said:

And Hiura hit .953 OPS as a DH last year….exactly 300 points more than McCutchen (.653)

Cutch ABs at DH——324

Hiura—- 83

 

If teams believed that Hiura’s OPS over a minuscule sample at one specific position had any kind of predictive power, they would have picked him up off the scrap heap when he was DFA’d.

That none of the other 29 teams took that chance indicates they all believe the same thing the Brewers FO did, that his 2022 results were likely unsustainable due to fluky BABIP, HR/FB% and K%.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Just curious.........does anyone know if Hiuras' weird reverse splits are still there this season w/ Nashville?

[rickh150]

7 hours ago, wiguy94 said:

Since returning from the IL, he has an 81 wRC+ and 26% K-rate, so no he's not playing well right now. 

Still better than what we have….Low bar

[rickh150]

2 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Just curious.........does anyone know if Hiuras' weird reverse splits are still there this season w/ Nashville?

AAA
.996 RHP OPS   113 PA

1.043 LHP OPS   49 PA

[TURBO]

When Hiura starts hitting again at Nashville (and he will) to not give him a shot at the regular DH spot is just plain asinine.

What we are doing now isn't working, it just isn't. 

If the kid can hit, bring him up and let him hit.  We have nothing to lose.  NOTHING!

This ridiculous stubbornness has to stop.

[Fear The Chorizo]

12 hours ago, sveumrules said:

If teams believed that Hiura’s OPS over a minuscule sample at one specific position had any kind of predictive power, they would have picked him up off the scrap heap when he was DFA’d.

That none of the other 29 teams took that chance indicates they all believe the same thing the Brewers FO did, that his 2022 results were likely unsustainable due to fluky BABIP, HR/FB% and K%.

I think it's alot more to do with the ~$2M contract the Brewers gave Hiura and the DFA happening right at the end of spring training when most of the teams were trying to get creative with their own 40 man roster maneuvers, with any interested organizations not wanting to open up a 40 man roster spot for a guy out of minor league options they could've stowed away on their own AAA squad for peanuts had the Brewers not retained him.  If you polled MLB organizations right now, I'd guess a bunch of them would say if they could go back in time to late March they would have found a way to acquire Hiura - even if it meant jettisoning someone else on their own 40 man to get it done.

If Hiura is healthy, he needs to be the fulltime DH in Milwaukee.  He's the best option with who they have in the organization right now for that role and for all the positional flexibility the Brewers like to do with their roster, they need to prioritize DH to a bat first (even better bat only) player that they pencil into the lineup everyday.  Until they give Keston that kind of extended opportunity at the MLB level, they won't know for sure if it's time to move on from him for good, and if I was Hiura if I didn't get that opportunity from the Brewers I'd look to move on after this season with a different MLB organization or sign a deal to play in a Japanese or Korean league ala Thames.  

If the Brewers were getting more than pitcher-level hitting production from the DH role so far this season from the players they've given those ABs to so far, then keeping Hiura off the 40 man and down on the farm as an insurance policy would make sense for a team striving to win a very winnable division - but even a slumping Hiura would outproduce what they're getting from the DH spot in Milwaukee right now, and the upside of a 0.800-0.900 OPS righthanded hitter in the DH spot should be enticing enough to roll the damn dice pretty soon.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'm hardly a Hiura believer but once he gets back up to speed in Nashville, it'd be pretty ridiculous not to give him another shot in Milwaukee.

[CheezWizHed]

Agreed.  As it was said earlier - its a low bar.  At least we stopped batting Winkler at #2 or #3... maybe he snaps out of it, but you can't keep sinking our offense waiting for it also. 

[TURBO]

1 hour ago, CheezWizHed said:

Agreed.  As it was said earlier - its a low bar.  At least we stopped batting Winkler at #2 or #3... maybe he snaps out of it, but you can't keep sinking our offense waiting for it also. 

Yeah, Adames is bad enough in the top of the line-up.  

[rickh150]

2-4 with a walk tonight…

BHU!

[phnxcrew]

As he gets on track in the next week let’s do this thing! Put him in the five hole and let him hit some dingers.  Turang looks like he’s almost ready to come back and hopefully Frelick gets hot as well.

[Jake McKibbin]

8 minutes ago, phnxcrew said:

As he gets on track in the next week let’s do this thing! Put him in the five hole and let him hit some dingers.  Turang looks like he’s almost ready to come back and hopefully Frelick gets hot as well.

They were both quite weakly hit singles unfortunately, but he did rope a lineout later in the game of 104 mph. Once he starts connecting hard again, I think we'll see him up

Frelick will get there too, he's hit his whole life, but Perkins has been really impressive bar the outs on the base paths so far, so there's not a ton of pressure and he's earned the playing time

[rickh150]

2-4 with a walk On Wed. And Thurs.

[Samurai Bucky]

26.5% K / PA through Friday at AAA.  Would like to see that a little better.

MiLB has him listed as a 1B.  Would we rather have him platoon at 1B than bringing Miller over when Tellez is out?

[rickh150]

2-4 Sun.

2-4 Mon.

.999 OPS

 

[wiguy94]

34 minutes ago, rickh150 said:

2-4 Sun.

2-4 Mon.

.999 OPS

Rick you’ve made the point plenty clear at this point. You don’t need to post every time he gets a hit.

[Axman59]

1 hour ago, wiguy94 said:

Rick you’ve made the point plenty clear at this point. You don’t need to post every time he gets a hit.

 

Are you the Hiura police? Give it a rest.

rickh150 is posting Keston Hiura updates in a Keston Hiura thread. The horror!

[Outlander]

He's getting some hits but hasn't really got his power stroke going since coming back.