Should have kept hiura

[Thurston Fluff]

I'm happy he's back. If he wants to have a major league career it has to start now. I hope he doesn't just go to AAA and do the same as he's always done. Even if his production goes down because he's working on a new approach it's not as much of a problem as if he goes down and rakes but not change a thing.

[nate82]

1 hour ago, clancyphile said:

If they had taken some more time, perhaps the issues could have been noticed, and the Crew could have either addressed them or they could have traded Hiura before they were glaringly obvious to other teams.

There was nothing left for Hiura to prove in the minors when the Brewers promoted him.  There were signs that his K% were not good but there really isn't anything more in the minors that the Brewers could have done.  Teams would have seen that it is not like they are completely blind and don't have scouts to you know do scouting things.

1 hour ago, clancyphile said:

Hiura got the Brewers to the Wild Card in 2019 and 2020, but it is obvious that the Brewers bungled his service time and roster options to a degree.

This is just incorrect and you are trying to force your opinion as a fact.

There was nothing the Brewers could have done to fix Hiura.  It was all on Hiura to fix things in his swing he tried to do it last year and the adjustments he made didn't really make any kind of an improvement on his major issue which is him whiffing on balls in the strike zone. 

 

 

Also when Hiura was hitting good last year it was when his launch angle was higher.  This is not saying much but I think even if Hiura changed his swing to be at a lower launch angle he would still be the same player he is now just with less power. 

[yfinn6]

4 hours ago, sveumrules said:

300/30/100 for Keston? Must be some good stuff in that pipe.

 

I was going to say, "Username checks out." 

[brewcrewdue80]

Well that confirms my question what team would claim him to be on their OD roster. Nobody.  Now we wait and hope he does something strong in AAA to get at least some RP type return to move on fully from him. 

 

[Playing Catch]

Are there many examples of guys totally revamping their swings at this stage of their career and it working? J.D. Martinez? Luis Gonzalez, maybe? And with those guys revamped to add power/loft.

I know we've had this discussion about 10,000 times, but I just really want Keston to have success. I find his issues kind of baffling that he can't seem to make the significant changes he would need to make. With this said, I suppose he's made, or will make, millions of dollars to keep doing what he's done.

[TURBO]

Well, technically, we DID keep him...

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, igor67 said:

I'm very surprised he cleared waivers. It's not like he's a blackhole offensively. There are players who've shown less that still get playing time

I not surprised he cleared waivers. It’s the 40% k rate and complete lack of defensive skills. That’s a bad combo to be seeking a bench spot with. 

Teams that can afford, talent wise, to attempt to catch lightning in a bottle, probably didn’t want to do so at his salary.     Teams that can afford payroll wise to add him, probably had better options for their last roster spot. 

[KeithStone53151]

I'm a bit surprised the Oakland/Baltimore/Cincy/Pittsburghs of the world didn't snag him and give him everyday playing time. He's obviously very talented and maybe could figure it out if given time at the big league level. A couple really hot months toward the deadline could be a nice cheap flip. I'm thrilled to keep him in the org and give him everyday playing time at AAA.

[rickh150]

3 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Possible, even likely lol. He's raked at literally every stop in the minors. Then, once he gets called back up to majors he proceeds to struggles with Ks. Like clockwork.

And hit .886 OPS against righties in the majors in 2022. 
Give him Adames number at bats and he hits 30 HRs.

[Brewcrew82]

2 minutes ago, rickh150 said:

And hit .886 OPS against righties in the majors in 2022. 
Give him Adames number at bats and he hits 30 HRs.

It's more possible than him hitting .300, but still very unlikely so long as his K rate hovers above 40%

[Outlander]

2 minutes ago, rickh150 said:

And hit .886 OPS against righties in the majors in 2022. 
Give him Adames number at bats and he hits 30 HRs.

There is the argument that if he received more at bats his numbers would diminish. He received more at bats in the last month of the season than any other month and that was his worst month. Can't ignore his 900 OPS from May-August either but there are plenty who doubt his production last year is sustainable.

[sveumrules]

21 minutes ago, rickh150 said:

And hit .886 OPS against righties in the majors in 2022. 
Give him Adames number at bats and he hits 30 HRs.

All he needs to do to get Adames number of at bats is become an above average defensive shortstop, drop his K rate about 15% and raise his OPS vs LHP by about 200 points.

Looks like no other MLB club was willing to give him that opportunity despite his OPS vs RHP in 134 ABs last year.

[edfunderburk]

9 hours ago, Outlander said:

I think he stays, in the minority but don't think anybody claims/trades for him.

I wonder if the Brewers paid him the $2.2M knowing no other team would claim him in hopes he returned to their minor league team & one day became the player they hoped he’d be 

Probably not 😇

This is similar to Lindblom being paid a huge salary to toil in the minor leagues after performing poorly in MLB

[Joseph Zarr]

As a perennial watcher of Sounds games, I am excited to see Keston swing the lumber at Triple-A. He can absolutely get hot and rake in the International League - I recall some key hits just last season down in Jacksonville that tilted the series very much in the Sounds favor. I've seen him hit some mammoth dingers down yonder. I will be entertained (I hope😄).

[Robocaller]

5 hours ago, igor67 said:

I'm very surprised he cleared waivers. It's not like he's a blackhole offensively. There are players who've shown less that still get playing time

no one wanted him for $2+ M.  Doesn't mean no one wanted him.

 

[Robocaller]

2 hours ago, KeithStone53151 said:

I'm a bit surprised the Oakland/Baltimore/Cincy/Pittsburghs of the world didn't snag him and give him everyday playing time. He's obviously very talented and maybe could figure it out if given time at the big league level. A couple really hot months toward the deadline could be a nice cheap flip. I'm thrilled to keep him in the org and give him everyday playing time at AAA.

I don't know how Baltimore got in that list. Oakland is cheap--even 2.2M is too much for them to take on a marginal player. If he cleared waivers and refused the assignment, Oakland might swoop in and give him a minimum salary; some team probably would.

 

[rickh150]

1 hour ago, sveumrules said:

All he needs to do to get Adames number of at bats is become an above average defensive shortstop, drop his K rate about 15% and raise his OPS vs LHP by about 200 points.

Looks like no other MLB club was willing to give him that opportunity despite his OPS vs RHP in 134 ABs last year.

Just want the full story to be said. He was not terrible last year, as much as others want that to be the narrative.  He hit well last year for being jerked around constantly. He coulda shoulda batted consistently at DH lower in the lineup. Our DH options were not good. Again, it is also a game of who is going to hit better or give better numbers than him. There were not great choices some games and no, Cutch was not the solution, although CC stuck with him to the bitter end.

This year, there seems to be better DH options. I was not disappointed that Hiura didn’t make the team, yet I was relieved he is still in the organization, for what it’s worth.

[wiguy94]

12 minutes ago, rickh150 said:

Just want the full story to be said. He was not terrible last year, as much as others want that to be the narrative.  He hit well last year for being jerked around constantly. He coulda shoulda batted consistently at DH lower in the lineup. Our DH options were not good. Again, it is also a game of who is going to hit better or give better numbers than him. There were not great choices some games and no, Cutch was not the solution, although CC stuck with him to the bitter end.

This year, there seems to be better DH options. I was not disappointed that Hiura didn’t make the team, yet I was relieved he is still in the organization, for what it’s worth.

McCutchen's .325 xwOBA last year was better than Keston's .317 xwOBA

[owbc]

Adames is not the correct comparison. Keston can not play SS. Players with a .750 OPS and high K-rate who can’t field are a dime a dozen. There are only a handful of shortstops who consistently OPS above .750. 

If Keston could play a decent 2B he would have a job. 

[brewmann04]

do the Brewers have a hitting Lab to match their Pitching Lab?

[sveumrules]

8 minutes ago, brewmann04 said:

do the Brewers have a hitting Lab to match their Pitching Lab?

Not sure if it happened in any kind of lab, but Chourio, Frelick, Wiemer, Mitchell, Turang, Black & others have developed pretty nicely in the last year plus.

On the MLB side Brewers improved from 12th to 10th in runs scored, went from a 98 position player wRC+ up to a 104 mark and saw a 5 WAR increase from 2021 to 2022.

Just need to hold those gains on the position player side and get the pitching back closer to 2021 levels (26.6 rWAR, 3rd) than where it was last year (15.9 rWAR, 14th).

[TURBO]

47 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

 

Just need to hold those gains on the position player side and get the pitching back closer to 2021 levels (26.6 rWAR, 3rd) than where it was last year (15.9 rWAR, 14th).

And where does that get us exactly?  A wild card playoff appearance?  A possible division championship and an early playoff exit?

I get it, we need those things if we are going to have a chance, but this offensive line-up will not take us to the world series without a stellar year from our entire pitching staff.

[wiguy94]

33 minutes ago, TURBO said:

And where does that get us exactly?  A wild card playoff appearance?  A possible division championship and an early playoff exit?

I get it, we need those things if we are going to have a chance, but this offensive line-up will not take us to the world series without a stellar year from our entire pitching staff.

Brewers position players had 2.6 more fWAR than the Phillies who went to the WS last year.

[KeithStone53151]

2 hours ago, TURBO said:

And where does that get us exactly?  A wild card playoff appearance?  A possible division championship and an early playoff exit?

I get it, we need those things if we are going to have a chance, but this offensive line-up will not take us to the world series without a stellar year from our entire pitching staff.

I'm not sure what the purpose of this comment was. We shouldn't try to incrementally get better because it's a complete waste of time unless we win the world series? Every team that wins the world series, a lot has to go right to be the best team of 30. If we're truly making incremental improvements in player development, that's a positive regardless of whether it immediately turns into a world series or not.

[Baldkin]

9 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

Are there many examples of guys totally revamping their swings at this stage of their career and it working? J.D. Martinez? Luis Gonzalez, maybe? And with those guys revamped to add power/loft.

I know we've had this discussion about 10,000 times, but I just really want Keston to have success. I find his issues kind of baffling that he can't seem to make the significant changes he would need to make. With this said, I suppose he's made, or will make, millions of dollars to keep doing what he's done.

The guy Hiura hopes to be is Nelson Cruz.