Brewers Designate Vinny Capra For Assignment, Recall Andruw Monasterio And Bryan Hudson

[Jack Stern]

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

Ahead of Friday night's series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Brewers announced an infield shakeup. The club designated Vinny Capra for assignment and recalled Andruw Monasterio from Triple-A Nashville. Bryan Hudson was also recalled to take the spot of Elvin Rodríguez, whom the team optioned after a 74-pitch relief outing on Wednesday.

The first two transactions complete a full overhaul of the Brewers' big-league third base mix. Oliver Dunn and Capra opened the year in a platoon at the hot corner, but the duo combined for a .111/.155/.167 slash and -12 wRC+. The latter's output was particularly pitiful: a .074/.121/.130 line (-33 wRC+) that featured an 0-for-36 streak that tied for the third-longest hitless streak in franchise history.

The club replaced Dunn with Caleb Durbin in mid-April. Three weeks later, Capra is also on the way out.

With Durbin entrenched as the everyday third baseman, Monasterio slides into the infield bench role. The 27-year-old is not an offensive threat, either, owning a career .243/.322/.324 line (82 wRC+). However, that's significantly better production than Capra's. Monasterio has also seen an average of 4.36 pitches per plate appearance and walked at a 9.6% clip in the big leagues, so he at least works counts and reaches base at a passable level.

The utility man is also rounding into better form after a rough first week with Nashville. After starting 2-for-27, Monasterio has hit .306/.400/.518 (150 wRC+) since April 8.

Hudson returns after control issues loosened his grasp on a bullpen spot. He showed improvement on that front in four Triple-A appearances, issuing zero walks and spending significantly more time in the strike zone. With Nashville, 60.3% of his pitches were in the strike zone, compared to 49.5% at the time of his demotion.

However, the southpaw's velocity has remained inconsistent. His four-seam fastball hit 94.2 mph but dipped as low as 86.1. Similarly, his sweeper velocity has ranged from 84.7 mph to 76.2.

For now, Hudson figures to occupy a lower-leverage role in the bullpen, but Pat Murphy could also utilize him situationally against certain left-handed hitters.

View full article

[Jim French Stepstool]

Re Capra, this was pretty much inevitable I guess. I don't have a big issue with it, except Ortiz is having the type of year where he's probably going to get PH for or occasionally be out of the lineup & I have very little confidence in Monasterio at SS (and I think using Turang there, even for a couple innings here & there, is a bad idea).

Hudson is a very welcome & needed addition provided he throws strikes, which he did in AAA outside of one outing.

[wallus]

Capra is yet again another reminder that Spring Training stats do not matter.