Keston Hiura has a .984 OPS in Nashville

[Never Outhustled]

I don't know why Rowdy is such a priority. He wasn't very good last year, and has been awful this year. Hiura hits righties better than Rowdy.

[Brewcrew82]

5 hours ago, Never Outhustled said:

I don't know why Rowdy is such a priority. He wasn't very good last year, and has been awful this year. Hiura hits righties better than Rowdy.

Rowdy had a higher OPS than Hiura last year in a much larger # of at bats…

[Thurston Fluff]

20 hours ago, Never Outhustled said:

He hasn't hit when DHing, so you're already losing his bat. Also, letting him hit when his back isn't loose is dangerous. 

Counsell uses him in this manner now because of the lack of options

I doubt there's an actual reason being a DH makes him a poorer hitter than when he plays left field other than luck and small sample size variance.

 

20 hours ago, igor67 said:

DHing Yelich and Contreras for a bit of a breather is 2 games a week, leaving 4 to 5 for a primary DH. That's pretty much full time. No one else in the line-up is hitting well enough to justify needing DH ABs, just rest them. You'd also have that DH person available to pinch hit in those 2 games they aren't starting. If he keeps hitting this is what Rowdy will end up doing so it's not a justification for Hiura.

I guess so but add in the others who occasionally need a break and three off days in the next two weeks and it's down to 3 or 4 games a week. That changes in August and there's less of a problem keeping him on the roster if he's not the best option for regular playing time for whatever reason.

[igor67]

But if other players need a break and their bats are inferior they should just get the day off instead of DHing.

[rickh150]

14 hours ago, Never Outhustled said:

I don't know why Rowdy is such a priority. He wasn't very good last year, and has been awful this year. Hiura hits righties better than Rowdy.

I hear ya.. but this isn’t the point…. Winker, Ruf, Jones, and Voit, among others, were thought more of than Hiura, are thought more of than Huira, and presumably will be thought more of than Huira.,… even though they paid Hiura more than almost all of these guys.

Crazy stupid and tough to think of a similar example when a guy was paid multiple millions to play MVP #s at AAA when MLB team struggles at his positions.

 

[Never Outhustled]

12 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Rowdy had a higher OPS than Hiura last year in a much larger # of at bats…

By 2 points, while receiving proper platoon splits, while Hiura platooned only getting at bats at his bad side, he killed righties but rarely  faced them.

[wiguy94]

5 minutes ago, Never Outhustled said:

By 2 points, while receiving proper platoon splits, while Hiura platooned only getting at bats at his bad side, he killed righties but rarely  faced them.

157 PA vs RHP and 109 PA vs LHP is now rarely facing RHP I guess.

[Never Outhustled]

24 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

157 PA vs RHP and 109 PA vs LHP is now rarely facing RHP I guess.

There's twice as many rhp.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Hiura's stance, load/leg kick, and swing look much different now than even last season when he was trying to reduce the leg kick and eliminate the gaping hole his old swing had with pitches above the belt.  He is starting off more upright and is much quieter with his front side, then simply taking bat to ball.  Not nearly the moving parts with leg kick and hands loading getting to the hitting zone, but still elite bat speed.  Makes some sense that knee injury sapped him of some pop for awhile after he came back because he uses his legs to generate all his power in his current swing.  

He may always struggle a bit with velocity upstairs (most hitters do), but I think his new approach will prevent him from being an auto swing and miss at those pitches at the MLB level - dude needs to up!

 

[TURBO]

39 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

Hiura's stance, load/leg kick, and swing look much different now than even last season when he was trying to reduce the leg kick and eliminate the gaping hole his old swing had with pitches above the belt.  He is starting off more upright and is much quieter with his front side, then simply taking bat to ball.  Not nearly the moving parts with leg kick and hands loading getting to the hitting zone, but still elite bat speed.  Makes some sense that knee injury sapped him of some pop for awhile after he came back because he uses his legs to generate all his power in his current swing.  

He may always struggle a bit with velocity upstairs (most hitters do), but I think his new approach will prevent him from being an auto swing and miss at those pitches at the MLB level - dude needs to up!

 

No worries, we'll let him go for nothing, and he will go on to crush it with another team. 

The stubbornness is infuriating.

[shanedog19]

This is shaping up to be Orlando Arcia 2.0. Brewers give up on a highly regarded prospect prematurely, and he becomes an all-star on another team. The writing seems very much on the wall to me.

[BrewerFan]

18 minutes ago, shanedog19 said:

This is shaping up to be Orlando Arcia 2.0. Brewers give up on a highly regarded prospect prematurely, and he becomes an all-star on another team. The writing seems very much on the wall to me.

Arcia was with 2.4 WAR over parts of 6 seasons with the Brewers.

He was a bad player for the Braves for 2 years and now 6 years after his last decent season(2.2 WAR) he's putting up decent numbers for the Braves.

If THAT is what we're risking...are we really risking all that much?

 

I've advocated for bringing Hiura up, but that is a ridiculous take. just waiting forever, no matter how bad a player is. You don't think Urias(who put up more WAR in the last 2 seasons than Hiura's entire career) or Adames(who nearly matched Hiura in one year) was worth letting Arcia go?

If we're going back and claiming letting Arcia go now constitutes this great mistake...where is that gonna stop? Any player who comes through with a big hit? Arcia was given one opportunity after another after another. He wasn't a good player with us. 

He had a 72 OPS+ for his CAREER.
Tellez has a 82 OPS+ this year.

[Never Outhustled]

1 hour ago, BrewerFan said:

Arcia was with 2.4 WAR over parts of 6 seasons with the Brewers.

He was a bad player for the Braves for 2 years and now 6 years after his last decent season(2.2 WAR) he's putting up decent numbers for the Braves.

If THAT is what we're risking...are we really risking all that much?

 

I've advocated for bringing Hiura up, but that is a ridiculous take. just waiting forever, no matter how bad a player is. You don't think Urias(who put up more WAR in the last 2 seasons than Hiura's entire career) or Adames(who nearly matched Hiura in one year) was worth letting Arcia go?

If we're going back and claiming letting Arcia go now constitutes this great mistake...where is that gonna stop? Any player who comes through with a big hit? Arcia was given one opportunity after another after another. He wasn't a good player with us. 

He had a 72 OPS+ for his CAREER.
Tellez has a 82 OPS+ this year.

I truly despise it when people use career numbers to argue against Hiura when we know his game crashed as his mother went through cancer treatment. It's both inhumane, and irrelevant to the caliber player he is. 

[BrewerFan]

39 minutes ago, Never Outhustled said:

I truly despise it when people use career numbers to argue against Hiura when we know his game crashed as his mother went through cancer treatment. It's both inhumane, and irrelevant to the caliber player he is. 

The topic was CLEARLY about Arcia, but Hiura's mother was dealing with cancer in 2021. That's 60 games out of his entire career.

I'd point out his game crashed after his mothers treatment for cancer.

 

 

[Jopal78]

3 hours ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

Hiura's stance, load/leg kick, and swing look much different now than even last season when he was trying to reduce the leg kick and eliminate the gaping hole his old swing had with pitches above the belt.  He is starting off more upright and is much quieter with his front side, then simply taking bat to ball.  Not nearly the moving parts with leg kick and hands loading getting to the hitting zone, but still elite bat speed.  Makes some sense that knee injury sapped him of some pop for awhile after he came back because he uses his legs to generate all his power in his current swing.  

He may always struggle a bit with velocity upstairs (most hitters do), but I think his new approach will prevent him from being an auto swing and miss at those pitches at the MLB level - dude needs to up!

 

Thats probably another reason he’s not in the majors: Hiura abandoned the very thing which got him to the major leagues in the first place.  Implying he has no confidence n his ability to consistently hit mlb pitching 

[brewers888]

This team has gotten no production out of the DH all season and not giving Hiura a legitimate shot to fill this huge hole is completely inexcusable.

[Jopal78]

2 minutes ago, brewers888 said:

This team has gotten no production out of the DH all season and not giving Hiura a legitimate shot to fill this huge hole is completely inexcusable.

Maybe as a desperation move, but despite their faults they’re  in 1st and have been most the season; they’re not desperate yet.

[brewers888]

7 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

Maybe as a desperation move, but despite their faults they’re  in 1st and have been most the season; they’re not desperate yet.

Being in first place doesn't excuse them from not giving Hiura a shot when they've gotten nothing out of their DHs. I also believe it was a mistake giving away Urias when you have at best an unproven guy at third and a guy carrying a whiffle ball bat up to plate penciled in at second base every night.

[Brewcrew82]

18 minutes ago, brewers888 said:

Being in first place doesn't excuse them from not giving Hiura a shot when they've gotten nothing out of their DHs. I also believe it was a mistake giving away Urias when you have at best an unproven guy at third and a guy carrying a whiffle ball bat up to plate penciled in at second base every night.

I agree about trading Urias, but Turang has been good with the bat over the past month and is in there for his defense. 

[FanOutWest]

I tip my cap to Keston and the hard work mentally and physically he has done in Nashville this season.  People complained about his K's, swing/miss, average, ops with the Brewers (rightfully so).  We can all see the adjustment he made in approach and mechanics to decrease K, increase average/ops,, worked to hit LHP, etc.  He adjusted to hitting more for average then just HR (21 thus far though).  What more will it take to be given another chance with Brewers?  "Terrible defense, a liability" but yet after playing almost every game (except while on il) he has 2 errors while playing 4 positions (1B, 2B, LF, and DH - people criticize his D while DH?), how many have trouble playing just 1 position? 

If he doesn't get the call-up this season so be it.  If Brewers intention is to bury him on the bench, let him play once or twice a week, then maybe Nashville is ideal where he can play regularly.  Some players can play sporadically and still be productive.  As of yet Keston has not shown this capability, his production is based on timing and it's difficult for him to stay sharp if played sporadically. 

[sveumrules]

6 minutes ago, FanOutWest said:

I tip my cap to Keston and the hard work mentally and physically he has done in Nashville this season.  People complained about his K's, swing/miss, average, ops with the Brewers (rightfully so).  We can all see the adjustment he made in approach and mechanics to decrease K, increase average/ops,, worked to hit LHP, etc.  He adjusted to hitting more for average then just HR (21 thus far though).  What more will it take to be given another chance with Brewers?  "Terrible defense, a liability" but yet after playing almost every game (except while on il) he has 2 errors while playing 4 positions (1B, 2B, LF, and DH - people criticize his D while DH?), how many have trouble playing just 1 position? 

If he doesn't get the call-up this season so be it.  If Brewers intention is to bury him on the bench, let him play once or twice a week, then maybe Nashville is ideal where he can play regularly.  Some players can play sporadically and still be productive.  As of yet Keston has not shown this capability, his production is based on timing and it's difficult for him to stay sharp if played sporadically. 

Welcome to the board!

[Brewin]

48 minutes ago, brewers888 said:

Being in first place doesn't excuse them from not giving Hiura a shot when they've gotten nothing out of their DHs. I also believe it was a mistake giving away Urias when you have at best an unproven guy at third and a guy carrying a whiffle ball bat up to plate penciled in at second base every night.

That guy with a "whiffle ball bat" has a .701 ops in the second half and a .771 ops in August. Add his defense to that and that's more than acceptable

[sveumrules]

5 minutes ago, Brewin said:

That guy with a "whiffle ball bat" has a .701 ops in the second half and a .771 ops in August. Add his defense to that and that's more than acceptable

Yeah, a 56 wRC+ in the first half (with a 7.3 BB% | 23.7 K%) versus a 96 wRC+ in the second half (with a 13.0 BB% | 16.3 K%). 

Anyone still complaining about Turang's bat hasn't been paying attention recently.

[Fear The Chorizo]

3 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Thats probably another reason he’s not in the majors: Hiura abandoned the very thing which got him to the major leagues in the first place.  Implying he has no confidence n his ability to consistently hit mlb pitching 

Here I thought the whole reason he's not in the majors was his old approach got exposed by MLB pitching and he needed to make a significant adjustment to be a mlb hitter longterm.  His willingness to go back to the drawing board and remake his swing is a sign of his confidence as a hitter IMO - if he didn't think he could hit any other way he'd still be trying to touch his chin with every leg kick in hopes he'd slug enough for a team to give him another shot.  And I'd add that the initial swing change Hiura made to try and generate a better launch angle/more HR pop was probably the main reason his production cratered in 2020-2021 - when he was drafted with a hit tool considered the best in his draft year, he was not considered to have 30+ HR power potential over the course of a full season, more of a high average doubles bat that would hit 20ish HRs a year.  What I'm seeing from Hiura now looks more like that type of player than the 2021-2022 version who would hit 35HR over 600 MLB plate appearances, but only hit around 0.215 and strike out 230+ times.

Hiura's OPS-ing close to 1.000, hitting over 0.300, and I think leading the organization in HR for the season despite missing about 1.5 months of the year due to a minor knee injury - the changes he's made to his approach need to be looked at when facing MLB pitching for an extended run, because the numbers he's putting up this year in AAA are that impressive...it's unfortunate that doesn't appear likely to happen with the Brewers, when they've spent most of this season desperate for RH pop in the lineup.

[Robocaller]

6 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Thats probably another reason he’s not in the majors: Hiura abandoned the very thing which got him to the major leagues in the first place.  Implying he has no confidence n his ability to consistently hit mlb pitching 

so your argument is that if a player tries to improve, that means he sucks?
I hope all our players are trying to improve.