Is Brice Turang a Major League Hitter? How concerned are you?

[Brewcrew82]

Y'all can thank me. lol

[wiguy94]

Brice Turang has a 97 wRC+ since being recalled from AAA. 105 PA with him being basically league average at the plate.

[yourout]

To me it looks like Turang has changed his stance and his footwork.

Front foot staying straight to the pitcher with a slide instead of a lift. Seems to be quieter in the box and a much smoother looking swing.

[Jake McKibbin]

6 hours ago, yourout said:

To me it looks like Turang has changed his stance and his footwork.

Front foot staying straight to the pitcher with a slide instead of a lift. Seems to be quieter in the box and a much smoother looking swing.

There is some seriously smooth power in that swing too. It's almost Yelich like when he gets his pitch, though obviously Yelich can do it far more often. But it's a joy to watch those 400 ft pulled homers to right field

[Jimbo]

18 hours ago, Jose Cardenal said:

JJ Hardy is a really good comparable to the struggles Turang has experienced so far.  I almost forgot how badly Hardy hit at first. Through June of his rookie year Hardy's line was .182/.290/.264.  That is really awful.  Hardy picked it up in the second half and ended the year at .247/.327/.384 helped by OPSing at .949 in the month of September.

IIRC, Hardy only played one month the previous season, at AAA Indy.

[KeithStone53151]

12 hours ago, wiguy94 said:

Brice Turang has a 97 wRC+ since being recalled from AAA. 105 PA with him being basically league average at the plate.

Turang being a league average hitter is quite valuable with his defense. Especially considering his offense will probably at least moderately improve over the next few years as he gets experience against MLB pitching.

[kestrel79]

I think he'll be fine. Let's revisit this thread in 3 years. He's already looked better up there.

If these rookies come on late, and our pitching comes back healthy we can win a series against anyone and get hot.

[jerichoholicninja]

I don't recall Brice ever being a prospect because of his bat so we shouldn't be surprised that he's not hitting well.

[BrewerFan]

2 hours ago, kestrel79 said:

I think he'll be fine. Let's revisit this thread in 3 years. He's already looked better up there.

If these rookies come on late, and our pitching comes back healthy we can win a series against anyone and get hot.

I've always thought of Turang as a Trea Turner type player. Obviously not on the same level, but that type of player with more walks and obviously less power and a worse hit tool, but I think he a .270/.350/.400 player is still well within reason. I think he can hit 10-15 and steal 25-30. I think ~.250/.330 is probably more of an average season and I think he'll be pretty similar to Willy with the glove at SS. I think he'll make some plays Willy doesn't with with his first step, his quickness...and then some plays, particularly in the hole, he just doesn't have that big arm to handle it.

I'm not particularly worried about this first season.

 

[umphrey]

Turang never really hit in the minors, he was never projected to hit well in the majors, and he hasn't hit in the majors. I am always surprised when people want to move on from Adames and slot in Turang who likely has upside of being an average hitter and is projected below that. Not a good strategy to improve a bottom 5 offense. 

 

People are probably going to quote his AAA age 22 season when he has 108 wRC+ and that is ok I guess but we should expect that to drop significantly at MLB level. Wiemer and Frelick were more like 132 and 155 depending on how you look at it.

[homer]

Just now, umphrey said:

Turang never really hit in the minors, he was never projected to hit well in the majors, and he hasn't hit in the majors. I am always surprised when people want to move on from Adames and slot in Turang who likely has upside of being an average hitter and is projected below that. Not a good strategy to improve a bottom 5 offense. 

 

People are probably going to quote his AAA age 22 season when he has 108 wRC+ and that is ok I guess but we should expect that to drop significantly at MLB level. Wiemer and Frelick were more like 132 and 155 depending on how you look at it.

It was questionable that he would hit for power not that he wouldn't hit at all.

[BrewerFan]

48 minutes ago, umphrey said:

Turang never really hit in the minors, he was never projected to hit well in the majors, and he hasn't hit in the majors. I am always surprised when people want to move on from Adames and slot in Turang who likely has upside of being an average hitter and is projected below that. Not a good strategy to improve a bottom 5 offense. 

 

People are probably going to quote his AAA age 22 season when he has 108 wRC+ and that is ok I guess but we should expect that to drop significantly at MLB level. Wiemer and Frelick were more like 132 and 155 depending on how you look at it.

Turang DID hit in the minors.

Turang was also selected as a Prep Short Stop, not a College OFer. 

He missed 2020...which was a huge year for his development, then was pushed from A Ball at 19 to AA/AAA at 21 after the Covid year. 

Turang -games at 21/22 years old in 190 AAA games .279/.365/.404 .769 OPS
Adames- 21 and 22 years old in 196 AAA games .280/.359/.417          .777 OPS

That's not to suggest anyone expects him to be the offensive player Adames was. They've got very different profiles. Adames projected to be a power hitter...and he has been. Turang projected to hit for average and draw walks.

We should also keep in mind when we acquired Adames, he had a OPS+ of 74. Turang this year has an OPS+ of 71. The sky is not falling because a ROOKIE SS is not hitting at 23 years old.

 

But more importantly;

56 minutes ago, umphrey said:

I am always surprised when people want to move on from Adames

This isn't an issue of WANT. I'd want Adames to stick around at SS for the next 4-5 years and Turang at 2B.  I suppose Adames is making an extension more plausible this year with a .205 BA and a .675 OPS, but he's a guy who projected to get a Dansby Swanson type contract coming into the year and is set to be a FA in a little over a year.

So it has literally nothing to do with wanting Turang over Adames. I think we'd all be thrilled if the Brewers had the money where they could keep Turang at 2B, but that's unlikely. He'll almost certainly be the Starting SS in '25 or the '24 trade deadline. 

 

[jjfanec]

Since the All Star Break Brice has an Ion base percentage of .369 and an OPS of .769. He 65 pa with 12 ks and 9 bbs. It does not seem like he is getting super lucky either with a BABIP of .310 - that seems sustainable with his speed.

If he stay around those numbers he has a ton of value with his defense

[Fear The Chorizo]

Last 28 days, Turang is sporting a 0.777 OPS and has gotten on base at close to a 0.390 clip - his stats are much better than that over his last 14 and 7 day splits.

Conversely, Adames is sporting a sub-0.500 OPS his last 28 days.

I'm pretty certain Adames has a minor league option remaining...

 

[LouisEly]

8 hours ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

I'm pretty certain Adames has a minor league option remaining...

 

Except that he has five years of service time, so the Brewers can't send him down without his permission.

[jay87shot]

That HR tonight was beautiful, he didn't even look like he swung that hard. His new stance standing a little taller has a little non wiggle Griffey Jr. to it.

He also gave Willy the day off and we scored 12. It should at least tell CC that we can't have a #4 hitter who is at .200.

Also it seems like the past couple years he has ended the season on fire. Last year he hit 10+ HR in the second half so it isn't crazy that he will hit 20+ HR's, not this year.

[BrewerFan]

On 7/25/2023 at 1:41 AM, Jim French Stepstool said:

With the other things he brings to the table, I'd be thrilled with that. Not saying it can't happen. But if he hits two-eighty- something up here with almost 80 RBI, takes his walks & only gets thrown out twice all year stealing along with fielding his position the way he does, he's probably an all-star.

 

.288 BA, 81 RBIs!

Not quite an All-Star just yet, but... his 3rd multi-hit playoff game in his last 4 and arguably the Brewers MVP...

 

And no, I didn't search for this thread. I just wanted to see if anyone else saw any Trea Turner in his game and this thread popped up. 
 

[SeaBass]

3 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

.288 BA, 81 RBIs!

Not quite an All-Star just yet, but... his 3rd multi-hit playoff game in his last 4 and arguably the Brewers MVP...

 

And no, I didn't search for this thread. I just wanted to see if anyone else saw any Trea Turner in his game and this thread popped up. 
 

I feel like I've said it a couple times this season that he's Trea Turner lite. Cant remember which threads but I think I said it before he went on his HR binge in,,, was it August? I think I was saying it before the All Star break.