Anthony Seigler Shaping Up to Be Brewers' Next Nifty Position-Player Project

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Michael McLoone-Imagn Images

It's not as though Caleb Durbin has laid an egg. Once you account for his three times reaching base on errors, he has a .362 on-base percentage since June 1. He's struggling just a bit this month (.222/.286/.333 in 50 plate appearances), but he hasn't given away his job, or anything. Pat Murphy still trusts and seeks to use him. Lately, though, Anthony Seigler is winning some of the playing time at third base, and if that comes at the expense of Durbin at times, so be it.

Seigler has batted .278/.435/.278 this month, playing considerably less (23 PA) than Durbin but showing well when he gets his chances. He has as many walks (5) as strikeouts. He still doesn't have an extra-base hit in the majors, but his potential value—right now and into the medium-term future—is beginning to come into focus. As a versatile infield defender and an OBP-driven lefty bat, he can do a lot of things the Brewers like a lot.

For one thing, as the equal balance of walks and strikeouts hints, he makes superb swing decisions. Seigler swings at 68.7% of pitches within the strike zone and just 17.6% of the ones he sees outside it, according to Statcast. He also makes contact on over 90% of the pitches he swings at within the zone, so (as Brewers hitters are required to be, if they want to make Pat Murphy's lineup card on even a semi-regular basis) he's a tough out.

It's not just how much and where he swings that the team can appreciate, though. Seigler also has a swing that neatly fits what the Brewers look for from their role players. It's not a fast swing—in fact, it averages just 66.8 mph, and he hasn't yet gotten off a single swing measured at 75 mph or faster. As a result, there's that dearth of power (through the extremely limited sample of 53 trips to the plate, overall). However, Seigler's stroke is so short and his feel for contact so good that he's consistently hitting the ball fairly hard. That's enough to give him a good chance to hit for average on balls in play, as well as getting the boost that comes with maintaining a low strikeout rate.

Of 543 batters with at least 50 competitive swings this year, Seigler has the 27th-shortest swing length. He's squared up the ball at the 73rd-highest rate, meaning he's getting a high share of the possible exit velocity generated by his swings and the pitches on which he's connecting. He gets there not only by being short to the ball, but by having more than the average amount of swing tilt, at 35°. Fewer than two dozen players in the league combine such a slow swing with that much tilt, and maintaining that is why Seigler can get his barrel on such a variety of pitches and make up for the lack of plus bat speed.

Finally, though, let's bake in one more wrinkle. Seigler has one more unusual swing characteristic, given what else he does: his swing is oriented to the opposite field. Most guys with steep swings want to either catch the ball very deep in the hitting zone to slice it the other way or get through the ball and pull it, without rolling over. Only Adam Frazier, Luis Arraez, Myles Straw, Justin Turner, Alex Call, and Luis Guillorme join Seigler in being slow, steep, push swing guys.

That doesn't even mean Seigler necessarily hits the ball to the opposite field a lot. He's had a very typical breakdown by hit direction so far, pulling it more than he goes the other way. It's just that, by being oriented to the opposite field, he's covering the outer part of the plate exceptionally well. That cuts down his strikeout rate, relative to what we'd expect based on the tilt of his swing.

Even more than recent players who came up with quiet, unimpressive swings—guys like Durbin, Sal Frelick, Brice Turang, Blake Perkins and Isaac Collins—there's a limit to Seigler's ability to grow from here toward stardom. His ceiling is as a solid but unspectacular contributor. Even while he's slowly working his way toward that status, though, Seigler has been a fine bench piece for a thriving Brewers club.

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[jay87shot]

You got to like the ability to catch as well, it will allow us to DH Contreras more and also PH the backup catcher if need be. My guess is that they will try and have him get some OF reps in the summer as well. He fits the Brewers mentality and philosophy to a T and make a great bench player with a similar upside to Isaac Collins.

[Brian]

He has been hitting well in the month of August and is coming around to the extra speed in the MLB compared to AAA and as was said a decent multiple position player.