Keston Hiura called up, Shaw optioned

[folly412]

Wish he would have been called up for the Cubs series but I'll take it!!

 

Agreed. I doubt Shaw just suddenly had a wrist injury. Brewers sure could have used that bat the last 4 games.

 

 

Our second trip of the year to the infamous Phantom IL, following Wilkerson's "left foot contusion"?

[tmwiese55]

I don't want what I've said to be construed as rooting against Hiura. I am excited and hopeful he will make a positive impact on the team now and in the future. I am also choosing not to put undue expectations on his shoulders right out of the gate. I'm expecting slow but steady progress filled with ups and downs, not an instant face of the franchise type arrival.

 

I feel like some posters are expecting peak Hiura as soon as he strolls into the clubhouse. When ideally peak Hiura is three or four or more years down the road. Christian Yelich had solid if not spectacular numbers and went supernova in his 6th season. It seems silly to expect overnight success for Hiura. If that makes me a negative Nancy so be it.

 

Exactly. As Brewers fans we saw Braun immediately kill it so we know that it's possible and might skew expectations, but the reality is that is rare. It certainly can and could happen here but it's probably best to not expect it to happen. I hope he comes up and does so well they can't send him down but I realize there might be some growing pains and I'm not gonna cast him off if he struggles right away.

[502 to Right]

Wish he would have been called up for the Cubs series but I'll take it!!

 

Agreed. I doubt Shaw just suddenly had a wrist injury. Brewers sure could have used that bat the last 4 games.

 

 

Our second trip of the year to the infamous Phantom IL, following Wilkerson's "left foot contusion"?

 

I'm not so sure about that. Shaw has a long enough track record to know he's a good hitter in MLB (against RHP at least). I'm willing to bet his suckitude this year is due to an unreported injury rather than forgetting how to hit a baseball.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Stop with the hyperbole. Some people are choosing to see what he does before getting too excited and that's ok.

 

That's also a really reactionary way to be a fan, but I guess to each their own. I'd rather be excited now that a player I've been over the moon about since the day he was drafted is ready to help the big league club without having to wait on even more evidence that he's going to be really good.

 

Apologies with apparently getting too far over my skis - that's something I basically never do. When the thread started going down the road of citing Vlad Jr.'s 1st few weeks of MLB at bats as reason to temper hope he can easily outperform a 0.500 OPS while Hiura adjusts to MLB pitching, I should have simply posted that it's a fool's errand to compare any top prospect's initial sample of ABs in the bigs to another - IMO Hiura's seasoning as a collegiate bat is going to help him get his feet on the ground at the big league level offensively faster than guys who are more talented overall but haven't had the same amount of development time (Vlad Jr., Jimenez, heck look at Trout's first ~150 ABs) or who were called up early because of other tools moreso than being able to put bat to ball first and foremost (Buxton). They're all different - do i expect Hiura in this year's all star game? Heck no, but my view of him being the 2nd best hitter on this roster come 2020 is that he's going to make that MLB adjustment quickly and settle nicely into the 0.800-0.850 OPS range while showing plenty of room for improvement once he is comfortable at the game's highest level.

[3and2Fastball]

Could be my imagination but does Shaw's body look a little worse this year? He's obviously never been Thames, but this year he looks like a rec league softball player. His arms are like noodles. I'm not sure he had a good off season of training. He looks a bit like Aguilar without the natural god-given size and strength.

 

I don't see that at all. He looks fine physically. I think his issues are on the mental side.

 

I suspect he's been dealing with injuries off & on much of the year. For competitive reasons, teams don't disclose all the minor injuries that players grind through week to week.

 

When you see Shaw up close in person, he is gigantic human. Very very strong. I don't doubt that he worked hard all off season.

[brewcrewdue80]

Vlad Jr. was supposed to be the greatest hitting prospect in forever and he has struggled mightily. It's a big jump to MLB.

 

And there are plenty of examples in recent history on the other end of the spectrum that dominate MLB pitching early in their career. Bellinger, Soto, Acuna, further back obviously Braun. Even our last "great" 2B prospect, Brett Lawrie, had a dominant rookie year after the trade. Just because it doesn't happen every time doesn't mean Hiura can't do it.

 

Of course. Maybe he'll be great.

 

But the success rate of "Top" guys is mixed. That's all I'm saying. Byron Buxton, Delmon Young, Gregg Jefferies, Lewis Brinson, Matt LaPorta, Brett Wallace, Kyle Schwarber, Dustin Ackley. . .There was lots of greatness predicted for that group and they delivered a collective shrug.

 

Baseball prospecting is an uncertain game. I want to see Hiura, but more as a curiosity than to think that he'll be an instant improvement.

 

The initial buzz on Schwarber was playing Catcher. Buxton was younger and has GG ability defense, Ackley was a 2nd pick and has a .802 career MILB OPS, Young was a #1 pick for the OF. Hiura isn't a GG caliber defender expectation(like Arcia) plays 2b like Ackley but to the tune of a .912 OPS career in the minors and a 1.106OPS his first go in AAA. He's a rare 70grade hit tool that has done nothing to dispel that notion. Having him at 2b is going to be above average vs all of MLB. Moving Moose to 3rd takes the worst 3b in baseball currently and improves that dramatically. Based on what he's done historically(starts off slow at higher level then destroys), I am glad that the beginning is here. Because, down the road happens sooner than later where he destroys the level he's at. Let's Go!

[homer]

Stop with the hyperbole. Some people are choosing to see what he does before getting too excited and that's ok.

 

That's also a really reactionary way to be a fan, but I guess to each their own. I'd rather be excited now that a player I've been over the moon about since the day he was drafted is ready to help the big league club without having to wait on even more evidence that he's going to be really good.

 

Apologies with apparently getting too far over my skis - that's something I basically never do. When the thread started going down the road of citing Vlad Jr.'s 1st few weeks of MLB at bats as reason to temper hope he can easily outperform a 0.500 OPS while Hiura adjusts to MLB pitching, I should have simply posted that it's a fool's errand to compare any top prospect's initial sample of ABs in the bigs to another - IMO Hiura's seasoning as a collegiate bat is going to help him get his feet on the ground at the big league level offensively faster than guys who are more talented overall but haven't had the same amount of development time (Vlad Jr., Jimenez, heck look at Trout's first ~150 ABs) or who were called up early because of other tools moreso than being able to put bat to ball first and foremost (Buxton). They're all different - do i expect Hiura in this year's all star game? Heck no, but my view of him being the 2nd best hitter on this roster come 2020 is that he's going to make that MLB adjustment quickly and settle nicely into the 0.800-0.850 OPS range while showing plenty of room for improvement once he is comfortable at the game's highest level.

 

Agreed. Also nothing wrong with getting excited. The only downside is that you might be a bit disappointed and I think we can all handle that well enough.

 

Thanks for the follow-up post.

[IIAY]

Vlad Jr. was supposed to be the greatest hitting prospect in forever and he has struggled mightily. It's a big jump to MLB.

 

And there are plenty of examples in recent history on the other end of the spectrum that dominate MLB pitching early in their career. Bellinger, Soto, Acuna, further back obviously Braun. Even our last "great" 2B prospect, Brett Lawrie, had a dominant rookie year after the trade. Just because it doesn't happen every time doesn't mean Hiura can't do it.

 

Of course. Maybe he'll be great.

 

But the success rate of "Top" guys is mixed. That's all I'm saying. Byron Buxton, Delmon Young, Gregg Jefferies, Lewis Brinson, Matt LaPorta, Brett Wallace, Kyle Schwarber, Dustin Ackley. . .There was lots of greatness predicted for that group and they delivered a collective shrug.

 

Baseball prospecting is an uncertain game. I want to see Hiura, but more as a curiosity than to think that he'll be an instant improvement.

 

Somewhere I have a bunch of 1988 Donruss Gregg Jefferies rookie cards that, as an 11-year old, I thought would help fund my retirement. I think I'll be working for a while...

 

Here's to Keston having a much better career than all of the guys you listed.

[bork]

So 21 first round (or suplimental) picks since Jefress is 2006, and this is just the 2nd one to make it to the Brewers (Jungmann and Hiura). Granted, there were trades, but lots of misses.

[brewerfan82]

So 21 first round (or suplimental) picks since Jefress is 2006, and this is just the 2nd one to make it to the Brewers (Jungmann and Hiura). Granted, there were trades, but lots of misses.

That is pretty unbelievable. Hard to believe they've been as competitive as they've been with that many misses. Here's the list for anyone interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Milwaukee_Brewers_first-round_draft_picks

[clancyphile]

So 21 first round (or suplimental) picks since Jefress is 2006, and this is just the 2nd one to make it to the Brewers (Jungmann and Hiura). Granted, there were trades, but lots of misses.

That is pretty unbelievable. Hard to believe they've been as competitive as they've been with that many misses. Here's the list for anyone interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Milwaukee_Brewers_first-round_draft_picks

 

Folks like LaPorta, LAwrie, Odorizzi, Bradley, Haniger, and Medeiros, who got traded and brought back some value aren't misses in my book.

 

The misses are more like Arnett, Frederickson, Kentrail Davis, and Heckathorn.

 

Covey is technically not a miss, but picking Bradley instead of him was.

 

As for the latest crop - Grisham/Ray to the present... I think the jury is still out.

[brooks_quichenick]

[BillScottCanRake]

That's also a really reactionary way to be a fan, but I guess to each their own. I'd rather be excited now that a player I've been over the moon about since the day he was drafted is ready to help the big league club without having to wait on even more evidence that he's going to be really good.

 

One can be a fan, excited by the news of the call-up and he long-term implications, and believe there will be an adjustment period all at the same time. There isn't anything about those things which are mutually exclusive.

 

I'm excited; I think he's got a very good chance to be a very good offensive player. I'm very excited to see what he can do now that he's up, but I'm still more excited for what he's going to become down the road. I think he's got a chance to be very good for a long time, and combined with what they have in place, I'm pumped.

 

I've also been a fan long enough to know not every prospect turns into what we think they will, and some take longer to get going than others. So while I'm excited, I've got tempered expectations for him for this year. I hope like heck he hits like Ryan Braun 2007- I'll be excited as anyone if he does- but I won't be surprised if he ends up more like 2005 Corey Hart.

[Eye Black]

I'm so happy this day is finally Hiura.

[trwi7]

I'm so happy this day is finally Hiura.

 

[homer]

That's also a really reactionary way to be a fan, but I guess to each their own. I'd rather be excited now that a player I've been over the moon about since the day he was drafted is ready to help the big league club without having to wait on even more evidence that he's going to be really good.

 

but I won't be surprised if he ends up more like 2005 Corey Hart.

 

Who, by the way, received a standing ovation after fouling out in his first AB

[FVBrewerFan]

The consensus seems to be either Hiura will be a good hitter immediately, or it will take some time. I predict a 3rd option. He will be hot out of the gates, then struggle once there is a "book" on him. Advanced scouting catches up. Question is, will he come out of that, and how long will it take? His swing is so smooth, I think he bounces back relatively quickly, but we'll see.

 

As for Shaw, let me say this. Some may take a lot of joy in getting the awful Shaw out of the lineup. But this team really needs him to get right, because they need production from the corner IF positions. Moose takes care of one. Aguilar has struggled ever since AS break last year. Thames has been wildly inconsistent. Shaw on the other hand has had two very good seasons, and out of those three my money is still on Shaw- even after his dreadful start to this season.

[Eye Black]

Shout out to colbyjack (Patrick) for being the first person to ever evoke the name Keston Hiura on these electronic pages back in March of 2017 (Link). Hard to believe just 26 months later he is on the brink of the most anticipated Brewers rookie debut in many years.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Could be my imagination but does Shaw's body look a little worse this year? He's obviously never been Thames, but this year he looks like a rec league softball player. His arms are like noodles. I'm not sure he had a good off season of training. He looks a bit like Aguilar without the natural god-given size and strength.

 

I don't see that at all. He looks fine physically. I think his issues are on the mental side.

 

He's always been a tortoise with those monstrously thick legs. I don't think he was ever an Adonis but he looks exactly the same to me as well. And I would agree with whoever said it that they need his bat to get right.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

 

He said "thank you" to the guy holding the door. High character, no ego, high baseball IQ, probably going to be a legend

[Eye Black]

Hiura is batting 7th in tonight's game.

[Eye Black]

Maybe I missed it, but didn't see this posted yet.

 

From Daren Willman here is Keston Hiura's base hit spray chart from all of his MiLB games...

 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Pretty ridiculous

 

https://twitter.com/darenw/status/1128318929779208193/photo/1

[Eye Black]

What jersey number will he wear? 2?

he wore 18 in San Antonio which is available.

Sounds like #18 is indeed going to be his MLB number.

[Eye Black]

No I'm not tearing up, someone must be cutting up onions around here or something...