Brice Turang tweet from official Brewers account

[Brock Beauchamp]

This is worthy of its own thread. Thanks to @wiguy94 for bringing it to my attention.

 

[Frisbee Slider]

Approaching 1 WAR by mid-April.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Yes it's early. But when I think about the number of posters that were washing their hands of the guy last summer.......

[nate82]

4 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Yes it's early. But when I think about the number of posters that were washing their hands of the guy last summer.......

Not me.  I guess I was one of the few Turang believers.  Also he is perfect as the #8 or 9 hitter.  He doesn’t need to hit for power he just needs to get on base.  Turang to me is just a better David Eckstein.

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 minute ago, nate82 said:

Not me.  I guess I was one of the few Turang believers.  Also he is perfect as the #8 or 9 hitter.  He doesn’t need to hit for power he just needs to get on base.  Turang to me is just a better David Eckstein.

Yeah, it's great to have people like Turang, Ortiz, Perkins in the bottom 3rd to help flip the order successfully. Turns those 2 run innings into 5 or 6🙂.

[BrewerFan]

2 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Yes it's early. But when I think about the number of posters that were washing their hands of the guy last summer.......

I recall. He was taking just really defensive swings and it was pretty clear he needed a reset, but I still had hopes he'd become a #2 type hitter. An imperfect comp to Trea Turner with less power and...less upside, but that type of defensive versatility and really good OB skills. 

[Gump]

Anyone else feel as if Brice Turang looks like Riley Green the singer? Hahaha

[JRob1125]

13 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Yes it's early. But when I think about the number of posters that were washing their hands of the guy last summer.......

His defense alone is a good enough reason to keep him in the lineup

[MrTPlush]

15 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Yes it's early. But when I think about the number of posters that were washing their hands of the guy last summer.......

Well considering he came out of the gates last year hot and then quickly nosedived into hot garbage...yah, incredibly early.

I will be interested if his OPS is still over .750 in mid-May.

[RobDeer 45]

4 hours ago, JRob1125 said:

His defense alone is a good enough reason to keep him in the lineup

This is my feeling.  His defense is so good that I'm fine with him struggling on O.  Obviously there is a point where it could be too much to justify, but boy he's tough on D.

[brewmann04]

big young guy fan and rooting for Brice Joey and Sal 

[mtsportsfan]

On 4/18/2024 at 4:45 PM, Jim French Stepstool said:

Yes it's early. But when I think about the number of posters that were washing their hands of the guy last summer.......

Not going to deny ! Love to be wrong about this stuff!  Obviously his glove is second to none, just thought his bat wouldn't play! Glad to be wrong!

[TURBO]

On 4/18/2024 at 4:45 PM, Jim French Stepstool said:

Yes it's early. But when I think about the number of posters that were washing their hands of the guy last summer.......

He looked completely over matched and out of his element the majority of last season. (offensively)  It was pretty easy to lose faith in what we saw for an entire season.

I'm happy as hell with what we are seeing now, but it is awful early in a very long season.

I'm hoping this isn't a mirage, and rooting for the kid every at bat!

[Jim French Stepstool]

5 hours ago, TURBO said:

He looked completely over matched and out of his element the majority of last season. (offensively)  It was pretty easy to lose faith in what we saw for an entire season.

I'm happy as hell with what we are seeing now, but it is awful early in a very long season.

I'm hoping this isn't a mirage, and rooting for the kid every at bat!

It's hard to put a finger on, but he's going deep into counts & doing it...I guess the best word I can come up with is comfortably. With two strikes I just don't get the impending doom feel I got in that same situation last year from him, or from a Wiemer or, at least last year, an Adames. He said something earlier about knowing himself. I think that bears itself out in how he's more willing to take pitches, go to left field, be very judicious in attacking early. And I love how he incorporates the bunt game.

 

[BrewerFan]

18 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

Well considering he came out of the gates last year hot and then quickly nosedived into hot garbage...yah, incredibly early.

I will be interested if his OPS is still over .750 in mid-May.

I don't care if he has a .750 OPS if his line is .280/.350/.400.

For that matter, I don't care if the SLG is .375. He's an elite defensive MIFer. I don't need him to be a slugger.  

[Austin Tatious]

3 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

I don't care if he has a .750 OPS if his line is .280/.350/.400.

For that matter, I don't care if the SLG is .375. He's an elite defensive MIFer. I don't need him to be a slugger.  

I was going to write something similar.  I was thinking .265, good obp, 40 steals and an ops of .720.  With his defense, that’s a plus player.  All these young players need time to develop.  It’s going to be difficult to thread the needle and stay competitive while we develop young talent this year and next.  If we can pull that off, it will be a great achievement for Arnold, Murphy, Tod Johnson and the whole organization. 

To me the biggest unknown is our long term pitching.  But if you look at Peralta, Burnes, etc., they took their lumps as they adjusted to MLB.   You’d have to think that’s what we might expect with Hall, Gasser, Mis et al.  

Right now the strength of the Brewers is the infrastructure of the organization.  All the player development, scouting, drafting, the new building in the Dominican, the contacts we have in Venezuela, etc.  That’s what’s exciting if Attanasio can keep that rolling.   

[Fear The Chorizo]

18 hours ago, TURBO said:

He looked completely over matched and out of his element the majority of last season. (offensively)  It was pretty easy to lose faith in what we saw for an entire season.

I'm happy as hell with what we are seeing now, but it is awful early in a very long season.

I'm hoping this isn't a mirage, and rooting for the kid every at bat!

He is noticeably bigger than he was last season - that is a huge reason why I think decent offensive output from him is sustainable ( which makes him a 4-5 WAR middle infielder with his defense.)

[MrTPlush]

10 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

I don't care if he has a .750 OPS if his line is .280/.350/.400.

For that matter, I don't care if the SLG is .375. He's an elite defensive MIFer. I don't need him to be a slugger.  

I mean…I didn’t say a .750 OPS would be bad. His speed can make up for a lack of power. .280/.350 would be great…but he has a mighty long way to prove he can do that.

First we were excited Wiemer changed his swing, now we think Turang looks bigger. Pre and early season optimism is always fun. What will stick, what was wishful thinking. Time will tell.

[rickh150]

On 4/18/2024 at 4:45 PM, Jim French Stepstool said:

Yes it's early. But when I think about the number of posters that were washing their hands of the guy last summer.......

Washing their hands?  Maybe sit this guy down or have him as a defensive replacement….or even send him down to AAA at times. Or pinch hit in Game 1 with the bases loaded, yep. And all of those could have been the right call.

But was there a lot of calls to get rid of him totally from the organization? That I don’t recall.

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 hours ago, rickh150 said:

Washing their hands?  Maybe sit this guy down or have him as a defensive replacement….or even send him down to AAA at times. Or pinch hit in Game 1 with the bases loaded, yep. And all of those could have been the right call.

But was there a lot of calls to get rid of him totally from the organization? That I don’t recall.

I don't recall anyone saying that either. By washing their hands of him, I meant the folks who thought he'd never hit well enough to be a regular in the lineup, that he would never be more than a utility guy. That drafting him as high as they did was a mistake. I was on board with using him less & sending him down when they did. Hell, they PH for him just the other day. But some drew the conclusion that was going to be his ceiling, after watching his 1st 3 months in the bigs at age 23. I thought that was premature.

If 'wash their hands of him' suggested wanting to release the guy, apologies.

[rickh150]

He hit about the same last April at this point…we’ll see how he does overall this year.
Great to see him steal bags and keep the lineup turning over to the top. Also, I love that he can bunt! Huge asset late in games…puts a lot of pressure on lumbering relief pitchers.

 

[igor67]

Brice tailed off faster then you remember his April/March splits from last year had him already down to a .583 OPS in 80 PAs compared to his 69 PAs already. So quick mathing would still give him a.273/.325/ .424 slash line if he went 0-11 to get to the same number of PAs. Certainly time well tell if stays near his lofty All-star level production, but he can cool off a fair bit and still be a very good player.