Keston Hiura has a .984 OPS in Nashville

[SeaBass]

17 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

So what about Hiura's 2023 AAA numbers suggests he is deserving of those 0 MLB at bats so far this season?

What is it about the other call ups/acquisitions that suggests they did not deserve their time?

I'm already on record saying I'd have been fine with Hiura replacing Winker but that doesn't mean the moves the Brewers made instead are not without merit.

[Fear The Chorizo]

27 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

First off Hiura's BB-rate in AAA is 8.4% not 10% and the league BB-rates are massively different.

Average MLB BB-rate in 2023 - 8.6%

Average International League BB-rate in 2023 with the tiny automated strike zone - 11.8% 

So Canha's 10.6% BB-rate is comfortably better than league average and Hiura's 8.4% BB-rate is well below league average.

My mistake, i must have misread a column I was pulling #s from.  I really don't have anything against Canha in particular, and his production has steadily improved since the first week or two in Milwaukee to make that trade a plus for their MLB roster.  My larger point is I'm not convinced Hiura has gotten a fair shake to settle in at the MLB level, particularly in the last couple of seasons, and a big part of that is how the Brewers go about managing their roster (both offseason and in-season) - even with DH being a spot in their batting order since 2020.  If the NL didn't have the DH, then all of the defensive liability issues that do come with Hiura would be a very good reason why he's in Nashville - particularly because he lost his 40 man roster spot this spring.

And, referencing previous season's MLB stats for Hiura as justification to not give him another extended MLB shot isn't an argument I'm going to pay much attention to considering he's changed his swing (and was in the midst of that change this Spring Training and experimenting with different timing, acknowledging that his Spring Training production suffered from that work in progress).  This article is from 4 days before he was DFA'd in late March:

https://www.mlb.com/news/keston-hiura-working-to-make-brewers-opening-day-roster

After being DFA'd, Hiura continued making tweaks and actually scrapped the toe tap altogether for most of this AAA season, with a much less pronounced leg kick and much smaller bit of forward movement in his hitting stride.

Not referencing you in particular, but others tend to cite 2020-2022 or 2021-2022 #s without including anything from Hiura's 2019 season.  I just don't think any of those numbers (2019-2022) should be used to justify either keeping him in the minors or calling him up.  Hiura's 2023 AAA #s suggest he will find his way back to MLB, whether it's with the Brewers or someone else.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

I was a big proponent of calling up Hiura prior to the trade deadline to see what he could do.  Maybe he could have shown us something and prevent the need for a trade.  But now that we have Santana and Canha, not sure where Hiura fits in and who would we bump to fit him on the roster?  Send down Wiemer?  Release Anderson?  I would prefer both over the Hiura wildcard.  At least they provide good defense and have as much offensive potential.  It just doesn't make much sense anymore.  Maybe he could be our callup in Sept but I think a 3b/2b would make more sense.  Toro, Black, heck even Dorrian or Devanney could make more sense.