Aaron Hill favorite to start at 3B?

[JohnBriggs12]

Hill has hit 16 Hrs in his last 894 ABs playing in a hitter friendly park and is a below average defender at his natural 2B and surely 3B. He is adequate for this Milwaukee team but thats about it.

 

Hill had 8 HR in 520 AB's in 2011 and 26 in 609 AB's in 2012. So what's your point? He's been up and down and back up. Nobody's saying he will hit 20+ HR in 2016, only that he's capable of bouncing back based on his having already done so in significant fashion. It's worth it to give him that chance. He has a .955 career FP at 3B. That's above league average.

 

 

Counsell's penciling in Hill as a starter is shows that Counsell realizes that even when a team is in rebuild mode, the manager owns the team's record and he's going to use the players he does have that give them the best chance of winning as many games as possible even if that ceiling is 72 or so wins. If Hill doesn't produce, they'll look at other options, but he's the one guy who's actually put up numbers in the big leagues.

[reillymcshane]

Perez can play 3B, SS and 2B and he's a better hitter than Rivera so he's the logical guy to make the team as a non-roster player to backup all over the IF and platoon with Gennett.

Perez walked five times in 272 plate appearances. Only 11 players have walked fewer than five times with at least 270 plate appearances since 1901.

 

http://www.brewcrewball.com/2016/2/22/11086062/spring-training-position-battles-third-base

 

Doesn't mean he can't make the team - just that he has a lot of work to do as a player.

[monty57]

You guys have convinced me that at this point it makes sense to start Hill at 3B in Milwaukee, with Cecchini at 3B in AAA. I will definitely pay attention to the AAA box scores, as with Arcia, Phillips, etc, a lot of the future could be sitting on that roster. Cecchini is just my "fan favorite" pick-up this offseason, as I see him as someone who could really help this team in the coming years. Here's hoping he figures things out.

 

So, Carter, Gennett, Villar, Hill vs RHP and Carter, Perez/Walsh/Rivera, Villar, Hill vs LHP. Since Rivera could probably benefit from more time in AAA, he can head there, upping the chance that the Brewers can hold on to Walsh. Might as well take advantage of the down season to hold onto a Rule 5 guy. It might even be a useful roster spot if he can hit LHP.

 

Has an MLB franchise ever had a better IF at AAA then at the MLB level, because it's possible that could happen for the Brewers this year. Arcia is certainly better than Villar, Cecchini could be better than Hill. Gennett's better than Rivera offensively, but has to be platooned. Rivera's got him defensively, and should be better than Walsh/Perez in the 25% of the games they play. I don't even know who the 1B will be, so have to give Carter the nod there. If we trade Lucroy and get back a stud AAA bat, I'd say the AAA offense could give the MLB offense a good run.

 

The good thing is that means the MLB roster should start getting help sooner rather than later.

[Boomer5]

Hill has hit 16 Hrs in his last 894 ABs playing in a hitter friendly park and is a below average defender at his natural 2B and surely 3B. He is adequate for this Milwaukee team but thats about it.

 

Hill had 8 HR in 520 AB's in 2011 and 26 in 609 AB's in 2012. So what's your point? He's been up and down and back up. Nobody's saying he will hit 20+ HR in 2016, only that he's capable of bouncing back based on his having already done so in significant fashion. It's worth it to give him that chance. He has a .955 career FP at 3B. That's above league average.

 

 

Counsell's penciling in Hill as a starter is shows that Counsell realizes that even when a team is in rebuild mode, the manager owns the team's record and he's going to use the players he does have that give them the best chance of winning as many games as possible even if that ceiling is 72 or so wins. If Hill doesn't produce, they'll look at other options, but he's the one guy who's actually put up numbers in the big leagues.

 

He is certainly the teams best 3B candidate and it was absolutely the right call to pencil him as the starter going into camp. That ends the positives on Hill. My only point is that hopes that he becomes a quality player again at 34 and worthy of decent trade chip in July is statistically remote in a non PED world.

 

Id love to see Cecchini develop but in no way should he be considered the starter over Hill in February.