Eye Black

I'm likely going to get destroyed for this opinion, but since they are sending Hiura down anyway I wouldn't hate seeing him get some reps at either first base or left field while back in San Antonio. I think having him with the flexibility to alternate between a couple of defensive positions for at least limited innings would be helpful late in the season. The obvious counter is that he hasn't exactly mastered the second base position yet, so maybe additional reps at 2B are too valuable to waste.

If Shaw felt pressure to perform before... that spotlight just amplified significantly. I hope hindsight ultimately shows that they are pushing the right buttons here, but my gut reaction is that they are making a mistake.

Patrick, thanks for providing the list and cliff notes! I watched a handful of short videos of these players, and Matthew Lugo’s swing looks incredibly polished. I thought your “looks the part” comment really rang true, even though it was obviously just some brief video glimpses. Any idea why he isn’t higher on draft boards? I saw some comments about lack of power and maybe debate over whether he has to move to 2B or 3B long term. His frame definitely looks like it has some room to grow with hopefully additional strength to come. I would be ecstatic if the Brewers took a shot on developing Lugo.

[pre]Brewers Lineup Pirates Lineup 1. Ben Gamel (L) CF 1. Kevin Newman ® SS 2. Christian Yelich (L) RF 2. Bryan Reynolds (S) LF 3. Ryan Braun ® LF 3. Starling Marte ® CF 4. Keston Hiura ® 2B 4. Josh Bell (S) 1B 5. Eric Thames (L) 1B 5. Melky Cabrera (S) RF 6. Hernan Perez ® 3B 6. Colin Moran (L) 3B 7. Orlando Arcia ® SS 7. Jacob Stallings ® C 8. Manny Pina ® C 8. Adam Frazier (L) 2B 9. Zach Davies ® 9. Jordan Lyles ® P[/pre] Zach Davies: Batter (Pirates) vs Pitching Stats Jordan Lyles: Batter (Brewers) vs Pitching Stats

The Brewers capture the lead in the NL Central to start June. Seems likely to be wild ride during the final four months of the regular season.

Yeah no kidding. Alonso, Guerrero, Senzel, Robles, Hiura, and even that Lowe kid in Tampa Bay (I'm sure I'm forgetting others). Austin Riley has been incredible as a rookie with the Braves so far. Brendan Rodgers has held his own, but I wouldn’t be surprised if things really start clicking for him at Coors Field as well.

I haven’t watched as many Biloxi games as past years, but in the limited bit of action I’ve seen he seems to have better footwork in his swing. In the past he had a lot of at bats where he looked like he was on ice skates. He would get really off balance on a hard swing and even corkscrew into the ground at times. More recently it looks like his front foot plants sooner and he maintains leverage throughout the swing. Again, I haven’t seen enough at bats to know if this has been an actual advancement in his development, but anecdotally in the few chances I have had to view him it seems to be an improvement.

They just recently started playing him in left field over the past week, but only once left him there for an entire game so far. He looked awkward in LF when they experimented with it in past years, and it seems Mickey Callaway has been hesitant to play him there until basically being forced to figure out how to get his bat in the lineup more often. I am skeptical having him play in LF with regularity is a viable option, it would seemingly be the equivalent of Eric Thames playing in the outfield on a daily basis.

I honestly never thought I would be advocating for a first baseman addition this season. I was certain one of Thames or Aguilar could at least be passable at the position, but now more than one-third of the way through the season the Brewers have gotten almost no production from the 1B position. Only the Rockies, Orioles, and Royals rank worse according to Baseball Reference’s Position Performance by Wins Above Average. So what about looking for a 1B for not only now, but the next few years as well? That question brings me to a possible trade option. There is a good chance first baseman Dominic Smith will get traded this season. Dominic Smith’s route to regular playing time with the Mets is blocked for the foreseeable future with the emergence of Peter Alonso. Smith is at the stage where he is a post-hype prospect, but is still just 23 years old (turns 24 in June). The Mets have tried to play him briefly in the outfield in past seasons, but have been hesitant to go that route with him long term. I can’t imagine they will carry a 1B only bench bat on their roster the entire season. There are rumors they are trying to build up his trade value (for which he is obliging by hitting for a 176 wRC+ and 1.006 OPS, albeit in just 70 plate appearances). I don’t think he will be dirt cheap, and the requested return of either MLB ready players or prospects will likely be somewhat dependent upon how the Mets season goes between now and mid-July. I think the Brewers would be better suited to matchup on prospects (Turang, Ray, Brown, etc.), than MLB ready contributors (maybe Burnes?). I am not sure if the Brewers would prefer their 1B of the future to have greater positional flexibility than their current iterations. If that is the case, Smith is probably not their guy. Smith could however represent an opportunity to add a player that could be penciled in as a regular for the foreseeable future (he isn’t eligible for free agency until 2025). I know 1B is usually an easier position to fill from the scrap heap than most, but it seems to have dogged the Brewers in more seasons than not since the end of Prince’s reign. Is it crazy to look for longer term solutions at 1B? Could Dominic Smith be the answer?

When we were up 5-0 our win probability was around 92 percent. When the Pirates went up 7-5 their win probability was around 80 percent, so about a 72 point swing. When we went up 8-7 our win probability peaked around 75 percent, so another 55 point swing. When the Pirates went up 10-8 their win probability was around 93 percent, so another 68 point swing. When we won the game our win probability was 100 percent, so a 93 point swing. Pretty wild. You must be at least this tall to ride the ride. Thanks for putting that together, just reading the recap is stressful! Certainly a game where it feels great to come out on the right side. This year’s team never seems completely out of games, and they have had some really nice comebacks of late even if it took blowing multiple leads this time around.

Was this the emotional roller coaster game of the year so far?

He’s out.

Seems like the Brewers have played a lot of long extra innings games on Saturdays this year.

Perez and Arcia swinging at pitches no where close to the strike zone. Really disappointing at bats with a runner on base.

It was almost like they thought that was the ballgame. It was strange.

Fixed it for you.

Keston Hiura! Wow!! Glad they left Hader in after all.

Not sure why they’re allowing Hader to continue to pitch with an important game tomorrow.

I’ve considered it before. I really wanted the Brewers to break the bank for Yu Darvish.

This feels like 2018 at PNC all over again.

Seems like a good chance that not bringing in Hader to start this inning is going to cost the Brewers the lead. Getting out of the inning tied would be a victory, but then it kind of seems like pitching Hader in a tie game is a bit of a waste.

Good point, the range of reasonably likely outcomes in that inning were anything from 0 runs allowed to 7+ runs allowed.

I am as happy as anyone the Brewers have Hiura, but it is also clear he has a ways to go with his defensive development. He doesn’t have a ton of range and that isn’t likely to change much, but he is going to have to improve on his consistency of making good throws. The poor throw this inning has led to the Brewers allowing 4 runs (so far).

Mike Moustakas (19) off RHP Nick Kingham (9) - 106.0 mph, 29 degrees (436 ft Home Run) on 81 mph Curveball (Link).

Per Adam McCalvy... Link #1: Brewers are placing Gio Gonzalez on the 10-day injured list what Craig Counsell described as a case of dead arm. No pain, just a “not right” feeling, CC said, perhaps related to his late signing. Manny Pina activated from the IL in the corresponding move. Link #2: Zach Davies will start Sunday in Gio's spot.