2014 Brewers - Review of our 3 worst hitting positions

[Bombers]

Taking a look through our positions lets see where we ranked in OBP in MLB and how 3 positions were complete failures.

LF - 25 / 30 teams .293 OBP (no playoff teams were worse than us)

CF - 4 / 30 teams .352 OBP (Only teams better than us were Pitt, LAA, Hou)

RF - 12 / 30 (.328 OBP)

C - 2 / 30 - 372 OBP - Lucroy was amazing

1B - 29 / 30 - .287 OBP. We were horrible.

2B - 9 / 30 - .334 OBP.

SS - 27 / 30 - .287 OBP

3B - 11 / 30 - .321 OBP

 

I find it funny that the two easiest positions to fill in baseball (LF and 1B) are complete black holes for us. I am not a Davis fan. He swings at crap and seems to never be on base. (And it shows above) .... 1B has been a revolving door of "They are starting him?!?!?" To me the key to improving the hitting on this team is at 1B and LF. I also value OBP higher than HR's. I know, not as sexy as the long ball but Reynolds is useless with his 20+ solo shots. Maybe the fix at LF is already on the team and we straight platoon Parra and Davis. Then we just need a competent 1B. Of your 3 worst hitting positions, 2 of them shouldn't be LF and 1B. Everyone has a guy at those positions who can hit or get on base except for the Brewers. Many teams struggle with finding a SS and just value the defense over the hitting. (Which is why I am not so interested in finding a fix at SS, like some people seem to be.)

 

Ok, done with my rant. Carry on.

[JohnBriggs12]

As big a key to improving the hitting is to get Braun back to being Braun, and for Segura to have a bounce back year. Braun's second half collapse had as much to do with the team's failure as anything.

 

Davis was essentially a rookie, and where he batted, usually 6th, OBP isn't as important.

 

Melvin failed miserably in addressing 1B. While he tried to trade for him in July, there were no reports he had any interest in Morneau last winter or Michael Morse (.279/.336/.475). Either of those two would have been better targets than the guys he focused on, FA Loney, and Ike Davis in a trade.

 

LaRoche is the obvious target this year, though Morse is a potential FA again too but seems comfortable in SF. But they are in a position where they'll need to pay a premium price for what will likely be average production from the position. Still average would be a great improvement.

[Baldkin]

Davis was perfectly fine after mid-may, once he stopped listening to Narron and stopped swinging at everything. He was also injured all of September and played through it.

 

After Mid-May he hit .256/.321/.491 for an .812 OPS.

[DuWayne Steurer]

.

 

Davis was essentially a rookie, and where he batted, usually 6th, OBP isn't as important.

 

 

The most important thing for every single guy to do is not make outs, as often as possible. Regardless of what role each batter is supposedly defined to, not making outs (OBP), is absolutely the most important thing each batter can do.

[Bombers]

JB - I agree - getting Braun back to being Braun is critical.

 

Baldkin - I would like to can Narron too. Davis was ok but platooning him seems like the right approach with Parra around next year.

 

RoCoBrewfan - That is what my main argument is. It appears we turn a blind eye to OBP and to me that is a really poor decision. I know the A's got knocked out of the playoffs but I heard they have a sign in their clubhouse that says Homeruns are rally killers. They drive home the thought of being on base and forcing starting pitchers to work from the stretch or pay attention to guys on base, can cause opposing pitchers to miss their location. To me, having guys on base a lot is critical to offensive success. But to Doug and some, it appears the long ball is the key.

[craigharmann]

At least Yuni wasn't playing first!

[MadScientist]

The question is what should be done to address the holes and where are new holes likely to occur.

 

1B is the biggest hole and needs to be addressed first in the off season.

 

LF should still be Davis' to lose. Para can come in as a defensive replacement and start against some righties. No need for a strict platoon as Davis doesn't have extreme splits.

 

SS is a tough call. Segura really needs to work on his approach, otherwise hopefully someone can develop in the minors. I can't see trying to find a FA this off season to start at short.

 

Future holes:

3B has been ignored for too long, and A-Ram isn't getting any younger or healthier. They at least need a backup plan.

 

2B - Scooter was decent, but much of his production was in an insanely good June. Splits are extreme, so either a good righty 2B platoon partner is needed, or Scooter needs to figure out lefties.

[Thurston Fluff]

I know the A's got knocked out of the playoffs but I heard they have a sign in their clubhouse that says Homeruns are rally killers.

 

Yet their offense tanked after they traded Cespedes and his all power no OBP style. I realize OBP is good to have but it's also something more teams are chasing than in years past. If you can't get it you have to find another type of player that gives you something. Ultimately though I think the trick is to find a balance between the two types of hitters. Pay some to get the OBP guy we need but don't go all out on finding only OBP guys. There is nothing wrong with a mix of talent if the OBP guys are expensive or hard to find.

[sveumrules]

Brewers position players ranked 12th in MLB in OBP, oddly enough in a dead even tie with Oakland, so I'm not sure how OAK is doing something right and MIL is turning a blind eye considering the numbers are exactly the same.

[Bombers]

Brewers position players ranked 12th in MLB in OBP, oddly enough in a dead even tie with Oakland, so I'm not sure how OAK is doing something right and MIL is turning a blind eye considering the numbers are exactly the same.

I can see that as the brewers have a very high standard deviation. Players like Lucroy and Gomez are tops in baseball. But on the flip side the Brewers started 3 guys with an OBP under .300. (Reynolds, segura, Davis). Where the As only started Sogard with an OBP under .300. (And he platooned)

[danzig6767]

 

RoCoBrewfan - That is what my main argument is. It appears we turn a blind eye to OBP and to me that is a really poor decision. I know the A's got knocked out of the playoffs but I heard they have a sign in their clubhouse that says Homeruns are rally killers. They drive home the thought of being on base and forcing starting pitchers to work from the stretch or pay attention to guys on base, can cause opposing pitchers to miss their location. To me, having guys on base a lot is critical to offensive success. But to Doug and some, it appears the long ball is the key.

 

Oakland had a lot of guys who were patient and take walks, but they also had the 2nd worst batting average in the AL and 9th worst in all of baseball.

 

Clearly the Brewers had to many free swingers on the roster, but it won't be easy to make big changes to that. When you consider that Davis, Scooter, and Segura are all really cheap, it won't be easy finding better cost/value replacements, regardless that all three aren't patient enough hitters to maximize their talent. For as gifted as a hitter as Braun has been his whole career, he's never been a high walks guy. Hell, Gomez drew five more walks than Braun and Overbay only had five fewer in 260 less at bats. Ramirez has never been a really high walks guy either for as good of a hitter as he's been, but his consistently high batting average kept his OBP pretty good to good over his career.

[JohnBriggs12]

.

 

Davis was essentially a rookie, and where he batted, usually 6th, OBP isn't as important.

 

 

The most important thing for every single guy to do is not make outs, as often as possible. Regardless of what role each batter is supposedly defined to, not making outs (OBP), is absolutely the most important thing each batter can do.

 

I didn't say it wasn't important or maybe even the most important (though I don't agree), I said it was less important. Batting down in the order ahead of the weakest hitters in the lineup makes it less important than in does batting in front of the strongest hitters. The old saying "a walk is as good as a hit" just isn't true in all cases. If it were there would never be intentional walks. You certainly can't rank hitters strictly by OBP.

 

Generating runs which is the objective usually takes extra base hits. Davis had a very healthy total of 61 extra base hits which helped him generate 139 runs (70 scored and 69 driven in). I'd say Davis contributed more offensively than did Ramirez who only generated 113 runs (47 scored and 66 driven in) because Ramirez only had 39 extra base hits, and couldn't score from first on a double and often couldn't score from second on a single.