Free Erceg....Demuth

[logan82]

It is time to free Lucas Erceg from the northern mountains. Send him past Wisconsin to Florida and move Demuth to Biloxi. Erceg has nothing more to prove at Low A and Wisconsin is set with youngsters at 3B.

 

This gives Gatewood a complete season at Wisconsin where he is doing good and challenges our other 3B prospects.

Wisconsin is Low A.

[CheezWizHed]

We don't have much at 1B, but I'd still prefer we were 100% sure Gatewood can't do 3B before moving him off it...

 

And actually, i think I'd prefer him playing some SS instead of 1b. I see Isan played 2B last night, which is probably his long term position anyway. Gatewood at SS keeps him on the left side of the diamond least

[TheCrew07]

There have been lots of posts bemoaning our corner OF depth recently, but most of the players people like as 3B are likely ticketed for the OF unless they make drastic improvement defensively. Gatewood as a 1B is somewhat interesting given his frame and athleticism, one would hope for a Richie Sexson type player, but I don't like the idea of Gatewood floating around being a utility guy to get ABs.

 

We did the "rush prospects to the majors" the first time and the only good defender of that entire group was Hardy, and that's because he was essentially a natural. Braun, Fielder, Weeks... we've been down that road. I feel like I say this all the time but there's really no having it both ways... if you want to aggressively promote a player because of his bat then you have move him down the defensive spectrum to a position he can be "good" at without much effort.

 

There's no substitute for time and quality repetitions, if you want a defensively sound ball club then you need to be willing to let prospects spend as much as time as possible working on their craft in the minor leagues, which is basically going to amount to spending a full year at a stop. For example we've had quite a run of talented SSs come through WI from Rivera to Diaz, and while all of them dazzle at times, they've all made too many mental errors which leads to misplayed ground balls or ill conceived attempts to throw out runners, even Alcides Escobar was of that mold coming through the system. It takes years to reprogram instincts and for those young men to learn when to eat it and how to stay mentally focused for an entire game.

 

No matter a player's talent for the most part they are starting at point D or F and progressing to point A, and there's not a shortcut to go from D to A on the infield or as a catcher, it's a process and takes constant repetition, which takes time.

 

Either we're willing to be patient or we aren't, and if we aren't then we shouldn't expect solid fundamental play simply because there wasn't enough time to develop it in the player. For many reasons that I'm not willing to get into is this thread the athletes today are not as refined as they were in the past, and regardless of sport it falls on the people at the professional level to teach from the ground up. Unfortunately that's much harder because a player must essentially be torn down and start back at square 0 to unlearn all of their bad habits. It's much easier to teach the good stuff upfront but that's not really possible given the climate around athletics right now.

[homer]

The thing is, Fielder and Weeks were NEVER going to be good defenders in the infield as proven by their track record there in the majors even after several seasons. And as for Braun he would have been 30 by the time he was serviceable at third base.The problem with the old regime was not knowing when to cut bait on a guy making it at a particular position.

[FVBrewerFan]

Exactly. Most players have the natural talent to be a good defensive player, or not. In some cases, it's finding the right position for the skills a player has.

 

Braun, for example, was never going to be a MLB SS. So they tried hard to make him stick at 3B, just didn't work. He was a t least an average LF in his younger years.

 

I see Gatewood the same way. I've seen him play 3B several times, and he didn't look natural or improved since the fist time I saw him play there. Could they commit to keeping there and stick to it for another year or longer? Sure. But like it or not, it's still all about whether the bat will play. And guys like Gatewood, Coulter, Nottingham, etc. are too far away from MLB to really worry too much about position, who is blocked at a position, etc.

 

That could mean there's no Catcher or 3B on the horizon throughout the system. That's ok! At this point in the rebuild, it really doesn't matter if they have a couple holes down the road. They need a rotation, and they need to fill most of the positions on the field. But if they still need a Catcher or 3B down the road when they're truly competitive they'll have a ton of money to spend on a couple good position players. Plus WAR guys at least. They could even go cheaper and get a short term fix for a year or two.

 

Brewers have been adding a ton of SS,CF, and C into the organization. Not al those guys can play there, and you just hope that will build depth in the other positions as well. But any way you slice it, guys like Gatewood need to keep improving at the plate (ie, taking more walks) and if he ends up being a 1B or LF, that's fine.

[And That]

It's one thing to recognize that Gatewood is or is not capable of playing third base defensively - I'll trust the Brewers on that call. The issue is having Gatewood play "around the field" for now. Having defensive flexibility is great - if you're competent defensively. There's no sense in trying to develop flexibility when he's not good anywhere yet. They need to commit to getting Gatewood comfortable and competent defensively specifically somewhere and then worry about creating flexibility. He needs reps somewhere, not anywhere.

[MilwaukeesBest]

It is time to free Lucas Erceg from the northern mountains. Send him past Wisconsin to Florida and move Demuth to Biloxi. Erceg has nothing more to prove at Low A and Wisconsin is set with youngsters at 3B.

 

This gives Gatewood a complete season at Wisconsin where he is doing good and challenges our other 3B prospects.

Wisconsin is Low A.

 

I think he meant low"ercase" a

[brewmann04]

I like to see him also put either in the OF or 1b if they want to move him

but if lucas keeps raking then he might get another bump and Gatwood can go back full time to third if the brewers think he can handle it.

[igor67]

Given the problems the team has encountered the last few years in particular with aggressively promoting position players and watching them flounder, I'll happily take fewer reps at 3rd for the balance of the year for Gatewood vs. jumping Erceg straight to Brevard and watching him implode at the plate. Long term it's an issue if you can't get them at different levels, but this is a perfect example of the issue I had mentioned last week about having too many prospects at the lower levels and it potentially leading to a situation of diminishing returns as players eat into each others playing time.

[jerichoholicninja]

Who are these aggressive promotions that are being talked about?

 

I've always felt the Brewers have been way too conservative with advancing their prospects. The fact that Ray went right to High A is crazy.

[FVBrewerFan]

Who are these aggressive promotions that are being talked about?

 

Arcia was the youngest player in AAA (I think) when the season started. Nottingham in AA is aggressive, he is over 2 years younger than avg in AA. Tyrone Taylor was aggressive assignment LAST year. Medeiros was promoted to A+ very quickly, Diplan/Peralta were promoted very quickly to A+ this season for their age. Clark starting the season in A ball. Ortega in AA.

 

There are others I'm sure, but those come to mind. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with any of those promotions, just examples of aggressive assignments based on age and/or results.

[igor67]

Gatewood and Harrison are fairly prominent examples in my mind. Luckily Gatewood seems to be making some adjustments, I'm all for moving guys along, but putting guys really high when they don't have a lot of track record seems to be causing some issues, particularly with injuries (Harrison) or the difficulty of hitting in Brevard.

[SRB]

I think Erceg is a better prospect at this point. He needs to be playing in the field in the minors as well, and so he gets priority at 3B.

[pacopete4]

Erceg is the Brewers first basemen of the future. Hopefully this guy continues to rake!

[TURBO]

Its not like we have any good 1st basemen in the pipeline either so I don't know that Gatewood playing there every once in a while would be such a bad thing.

 

very true.

[MillerParkSouth]

Thought Erceg looked pretty good last night in his first game at Appleton.

[pacopete4]

Just put Erceg in AA and see if he sticks. That team could use s bat since Phillips seems to have forgotten how to hit. Depressing.

[igor67]

Maybe if you jump him right now, but before Erceg gets too far he needs to spend enough time at a level for the league to try and get a scouting report on him to see if he can make some adjustments instead of just blitz through pitchers.

[JohnBriggs12]

Erceg is climbing my Brewer prospect chart. I can see him skipping high A altogether and starting next year in AA. Would they test him in AFL this fall?

[narwhalattack]

I dreamt that Erceg was promoted to Biloxi.

[Austin Tatious]

Erceg is the Brewers first basemen of the future. Hopefully this guy continues to rake!

 

I agree, very excited. But why 1b? Every projection I've read says he has plus athleticism, arm strength, and accuracy for third.

 

I dreamt that Erceg was promoted to Biloxi.

 

That's hilarious.

[Outlander]

I keep on hoping that Erceg will be the top flight hitter this system has been looking for.

[MrTPlush]

I keep on hoping that Erceg will be the top flight hitter this system has been looking for.

 

Yah I gotta temper expectations until he gets to A+ and even AA. Not like 21 is young at rookie ball and A-. In his short sample size he has been pretty horrid over at 3B. Currently sporting a fielding percentage near .850. I know errors aren't everything, but that is not acceptable.

 

Nice to actually have a guy hit the ground running though.

[pacopete4]

Erceg is the Brewers first basemen of the future. Hopefully this guy continues to rake!

 

I agree, very excited. But why 1b? Every projection I've read says he has plus athleticism, arm strength, and accuracy for third.

 

 

I think I just looked at his errors so far and jumped the gun a bit on him. Hopefully he gets the chance to become a 3B first or maybe a corner OF if he is that athletic. Either way it is nice to see a guy just come out swinging. I think my post was more out of the frustration looking at Biloxi hitting stats. Pretty brutal. Especially for our "future" center fielder.

[TURBO]

Silly question, but how do you pronounce Erceg?

 

Tried to listen to the T-Rats announcer, but either wasn't paying attention when he was announced, or I couldn't quite understand how he was saying it.