Blake Perkins appreciation thread

[Playing Catch]

With Perkins going out the door, I wanted to give a shoutout and "Thanks for being a Brewer!" to the guy. I think we can all acknowledge that his bat wasn't Big League, and he'll probably always be that fringey 26th man. But in my humble opinion, you couldn't ask for a better guy to serve as that shuttle-man AAAA outfielder role. That's a real role; an important one. And Blake Perkins served in that role with aplomb. We could go on about our outside perceptions of the guy and of course, his personal story, which certainly humanizes a ballplayer, but I'll just focus on the ballplayer.

He represented everything I would want if I were a manager. Just a dude that goes out everyday with gratitude. Super fast. Awesome, awesome outfielder. That assist he had against the Mets last August? Just a beautiful throw. Switch-hitter. Hit some big homers, ironically. Can steal a bag.

The Smooth Operator will long be in my list of favorite Brewers.

[Vgmastr]

Blake's first at bat in Game 1 of the NLDS isn't ever brought up, but I think it's a big reason the Brewers won that series.  Matthew Boyd is starting on short rest and laboring, already giving up three runs, but there's two out with runners on 1st and 2nd.  Perkins comes up with an 11 pitch at bat that ends with a base hit up the middle to score a run.  Boyd is then pulled after only pitching two thirds of an inning, leaving the Cubs behind the 8 ball pitching wise for the rest of the series.  The Brewers then score two more in the inning and three more next inning off of Soroka and have a 6-1 lead after one and a 9-1 lead after two.  If Perkins makes an out it's only a 3-1 game with eight innings to go and who knows if Boyd settles in and gives the Cubs some innings.

[Stealofhome]

Agreed, well said.