Fear The Chorizo

Hiura's 0.992 OPS is currently lower than only 7 other MLB players who have at least as many ABs as he does...those 7 are Yelich, Bellinger, Trout, Gallo, Rendon, Garver, and Tatis Jr. Sure, he's not going to have at least 2 hits every game - and while there's been a noticeable improvement with the K rate he still needs to try and reduce that while increasing his BB rate...but damn that kid can swing a bat!

He was touching 98 with the fastball, got two strikeouts and a lot of weak contact. Other than being results oriented (both runs were unearned) How does it look like he was trying to pitch "threw" some nagging injury? Basing the July split off roughly 5IP that included long delays between most all Hader's appearances, too. Blame it on rust, but there's no indication giving up two jam shot singles and having his catcher drop a 3rd strike is the result of a nagging back injury.

never a doubt...hey, that's a series win!!

without bad luck this game would already be over - the two hits he gave up were jokes

Just absolutely raked...he's gotta be pushing a 1.000 OPS despite still having a K rate around 30%. When he makes contact it's rare that it isn't smoked

Well that all but guarantees we'll see Hader in the 9th...possibly sooner.

Freddy keeping himself stretched out for starting

If you don't know where it's going, mightaswell throw it hard and hope for the best!

Actually his frame is perfect for generating crazy power with the leverage he can get. I don’t disagree with the leverage part but you can’t say that the majority of sluggers throughout the history of any level of baseball are built like him. Christian Yelich - 6'-3", 195 Ted Williams - 6'3", 205 Barry Bonds pre PEDs was 6'1 and wiry Darryl Strawberry - 6'6", 190 Ken Griffey Jr - 6'3", 195 Cody Bellinger - 6'4", 205 Doesn't have to be a majority of sluggers - but there have been lefty high-average, high-power hitters throughout the game's history that resemble Yelich's frame. They stand out because they prove you don't have to look like a linebacker or running back to generate bat speed and power.

Actually his frame is perfect for generating crazy power with the leverage he can get.

Obviously you missed his virtual HR Derby against Domingo Ayala...Chase can mash!

I'm guessing many of the pitching staff roster questions between AA and AAA sort themselves out over the next couple of weeks - either some of these arms are going to be trade bait and sent elsewhere for help at the MLB level, or if the Brewers actually sell pieces due to poor MLB performance some of the meh AAA pitchers are going to get called up to finish the MLB season off and guys in AA deserving of a promotion will get their feet wet in AAA until they reach their innings limits. As long as these guys are healthy and pitching, I'm ok with there being a bit of a log jam for a few more weeks.

This doesn't make sense at all for this season or even next year - either Grisham gets traded for impact pitching this deadline or he gets added to the 40 man roster this offseason and has a shot at making the 2020 team. No point in bringing Grisham up at all unless the 40 man roster isn't full after the July 31 trade deadline. There are about 15 other roster moves/trades I'd want to see first to either improve the bullpen/rotation and overall roster depth on this team before trading away a really good 4th OF for a middling prospect.

It comes at a very key point in his career with the Brewers, too - I believe he's going to need to be added to the 40 man this offseason if they want to keep him around. He's been young, IIRC he was even young for a high school draftee.

He can play a corner OF spot respectably, particularly in left - I think he's played quite a bit of CF in the minors but doesn't profile there as an everyday option. I doubt he has the arm strength to be considered a prototypical RF, however he could play it if it necessary to keep his bat in the lineup after we trade Yelich for pitching prospects and call him up before Aug 31 for playoff roster eligibility...

I almost feel bad for the Braves pitcher...but then again it's been forever since the Brewers have had an inning like this. Ynoa is probably headed back down to low A after tonight...

You joined the site two days ago and know this already? I have followed this site and certain users for years, believe it or not, for bucks and brewers chat. based on this IGT you'll have a puffy chest post count by the end of this series!

I feel like Woodruff took off as a starter after developing at least a serviceable change and curve to combat lefties - Burnes and Peralta could benefit greatly from that same thing happening.

Stud

The whole roster construction of this team is just a mess. They overloaded on lefties and frequently end up in late inning situations against a LOOGY when they have to choose between a big platoon disadvantage or a terrible righty bat. In reality it has been for quite some time - they just got "lucky" last year when Thames got injured and Jesus caught fire for ~3 months playing 1B every day. The roster as constructed makes little/no sense for an NL ballclub, and it shows up routinely in late game situations. I'm almost relieved more than excited that Hiura appears to be up for good to play 2B regularly, because it gives the Brewers one less middle infield position to screw up with bad roster decisions and scrub players. At this point they've just got to give Arcia regular starts at short - and if Dubon doesn't replace Saladino on the roster, then Perez or Shaw should be up. I understood the move to bring Saladino up at first simply because I figured it was a short term move to buy them a few weeks around the AS break to get guys like Shaw right in AAA, plus Tyler was putting up solid offensive #s in San Antonio. But it was obvious about 3-4 games in that it wasn't going to translate at the MLB level this time and instead of catching lightning in a bottle they caught a righthanded hitting version of 2018 Sogard. Back to potentially extending Yelich - I just don't see a fit unless Yelich is willing to take a high AAV contract extension for a lower # of years than he'd get after reaching free agency. I doubt he'd be open to that even if he loves Milwaukee, and the Brewers would be foolish as an organization to offer him that longterm extension into his late 30's. I think the Brewers can ride with him through 2020 and he'd still retain a ton of trade value next offseason, even into trade deadline 2021. If the team isn't a legit contender heading into the 2021 season, they could get a haul next offseason or even trade deadline 2021.

Pretty much the definition of a middling team that's in an extended rut - they don't do anything extremely well with any consistency, so they can't count on anything working for them every game. That's a frustrating place to be as a team. They were fine in April and May though, and then just like that, everything went to hell. It's unusual, usually you see it happen to one or the other...either the Pitching goes, or the hitting goes, not usually both at the same time. I mean what changed once June came?? They were 10 games over...everything wasn't perfect, but they were working enough to get them 10 games over. Aside from a 7-1 start that included a couple games the Brewers could have easily lost, they were basically a 0.500 team into early June and then proceeded to play 0.500 baseball against the easiest part of their schedule. Their play has actually regressed recently, and there is very little to remain optimistic about this team - they have talent but there are too many holes in key spots to expect an extended run of winning baseball.

that great play by Swanson is gonna suck even more next inning when Hiura hits a HR to lead off the 9th. Jesus has had too many Fries to get down the line fast on that one..

Pretty much the definition of a middling team that's in an extended rut - they don't do anything extremely well with any consistency, so they can't count on anything working for them every game. That's a frustrating place to be as a team.

I don’t know why they don’t leave Dubon up. At least there’s a chance of some upside there. To me you know what you have with Perez and Saladino, and the ceiling isn’t too high. I assumed the reason was they were hoping to trade Dubon for pitching and didn't want to start his MLB service clock to maximize his value as a trade chip...but then they decided to call him up for a hot second around the AS break - so I have no clue anymore

I'm probably one of the biggest Hiura boosters on this board, but he wasn't even in the minors two full seasons before being called up...pretty much all the other teams in baseball would have made the same call, and many would have kept him in the minors longer. What I disagree with was their decision to send him down after his callup and after it was obvious he belonged in the everyday MLB lineup.