2020 Lineup

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Thought on the lineup for the opener?

Cain - CF

Yelich - LF

Hiura - 2B

Narvaez - C

Garcia - RF

Gamel - DH

Smoak - 1B

Holt - 3B

Arcia - SS

 

I think either Morrison will draw the start at DH, or Hiura will DH and Sogard will slide it at 2B.

[TURBO]

I can't see Hiura getting a lot of DH at bats. He is our 2B, we got other guys to DH. Plenty in fact...

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I can't see Hiura getting a lot of DH at bats. He is our 2B, we got other guys to DH. Plenty in fact...

 

You're right ... but he's been held out of field work quite a bit over the last week due to arm fatigue. He played the field for the first time in a week yesterday. If that arm issue flares up again, it is quite possible he'll see time at DH.

[Lathund]

Thought on the lineup for the opener?

Cain - CF

Yelich - LF

Hiura - 2B

Narvaez - C

Garcia - RF

Gamel - DH

Smoak - 1B

Holt - 3B

Arcia - SS

 

I don't think they'll ever have Ben Gamel as DH tbh. If he's in, it's because of defense mainly. If there is no Braun and no Urias, then I would think that either Morrison as at DH, or Pina behind the plate and Narvaez DHing. The rest of the lineup seems correct to me. Perhaps Sogard in there at SS righy (Hendricks) on the mound.

[MVP2110]

I see something like

 

C Narvaez

LF Yelich

DH Hiura

RF Garcia

1b Smoak

CF Cain

2B Sogard

3B Gyorko

SS Holt

[sveumrules]

I see something like

 

C Narvaez

LF Yelich

DH Hiura

RF Garcia

1b Smoak

CF Cain

2B Sogard

3B Gyorko

SS Holt

 

The three-headed blah-ster of SoHoGy all starting on Opening Day would be just about thee most 2020 thing possible.

[pacopete4]

Vs. LHP:

Urias- 2B

Yelich- LF

Braun- RF

Hiura- DH

Garcia- CF

Smoak- 1B

Gyroko- 3B

Pina- C

Arcia- SS

 

Vs. RHP:

Urias- SS

Yelich- LF

Braun- DH (RF if feeling good)

Smoak- 1B

Hiura- 2B

Garcia- CF

Narvaez- C (sprinkle in Pina also)

Holt/Gamel- RF

Sogard- 3B(sprinkle in Arcia, move Urias to 3B)

 

 

Don’t make this difficult Counsell.

[NYChez]

Brewers are hitting .173/.228/.258 in the first four innings of games through game 20.

[ewitkows]

From ESPN

The Brewers have already used eight different starters at DH -- and the strategy isn't working, as Milwaukee's designated hitters enter Monday hitting a combined .154/.214/.333. With defensive options in the infield -- Luis Urias, Brock Holt, Eric Sogard -- do the Brewers just plant Keston Hiura at DH?

[RollieTime]

From ESPN

The Brewers have already used eight different starters at DH -- and the strategy isn't working, as Milwaukee's designated hitters enter Monday hitting a combined .154/.214/.333. With defensive options in the infield -- Luis Urias, Brock Holt, Eric Sogard -- do the Brewers just plant Keston Hiura at DH?

 

Moving Keston to DH would basically be them giving up on Keston at 2B and telling him that he will be the DH the next 5 seasons. I don’t think him moving to DH is an option at this point. Could he be our first baseman heading into 2021? How about left field? For reference, Prince and Hiura are both 6’ so it’s at least something to consider. But no, I don’t see them moving him to DH. See if he continues to improve at 2B the rest of the season. Consider a position change to 1B after the season. That’s at least what I would look to do at this point.

 

It would be big to be able to hit the free agency pool with the DH spot open. It at least gives you the option to bring in guys like Cruz, Encarnacion, possibly Castellanos, guys like that to improve the lineup that may be better suited as a DH.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

From ESPN

The Brewers have already used eight different starters at DH -- and the strategy isn't working, as Milwaukee's designated hitters enter Monday hitting a combined .154/.214/.333. With defensive options in the infield -- Luis Urias, Brock Holt, Eric Sogard -- do the Brewers just plant Keston Hiura at DH?

 

Moving Keston to DH would basically be them giving up on Keston at 2B and telling him that he will be the DH the next 5 seasons. I don’t think him moving to DH is an option at this point. Could he be our first baseman heading into 2021? How about left field? For reference, Prince and Hiura are both 6’ so it’s at least something to consider. But no, I don’t see them moving him to DH. See if he continues to improve at 2B the rest of the season. Consider a position change to 1B after the season. That’s at least what I would look to do at this point.

 

It would be big to be able to hit the free agency pool with the DH spot open. It at least gives you the option to bring in guys like Cruz, Encarnacion, possibly Castellanos, guys like that to improve the lineup that may be better suited as a DH.

 

I personally don't think Hiura has looked too bad defensively this year. A few little hiccups, but nothing to get too uptight about. He's never going to be a Gold Glover out there, but if he can get to the point when you don't notice him on defense, that's a win.

[Jopal78]

From ESPN

The Brewers have already used eight different starters at DH -- and the strategy isn't working, as Milwaukee's designated hitters enter Monday hitting a combined .154/.214/.333. With defensive options in the infield -- Luis Urias, Brock Holt, Eric Sogard -- do the Brewers just plant Keston Hiura at DH?

 

The team as a whole is hitting .221/.298/.368. If all of their hitters have struggled so far, obviously whomever has hit in the DH spot has also struggled.

 

From here on out, playing time is likely going to go to the hot hands, so The Brock Star and to a lesser extent Sogard aren't going to see as much time as before.

 

2. Pina/Narvaez

3. Smoak/Gyorko

4. Urias

5. Gyorko/Urias

6. Arcia

7. Yelich

8. Garcia

9. Braun

DH. Hiura

 

Frankly, I'd be on the lookout for an Outfielder available in a trade (Shin-Soo Choo, Kevin Pillar, maybe Jay Bruce). Keep Braun fresh that way with some DH at bats, give Hiura more time at 2b, shifting Urias to 3b. Designating Holt or optioning Gamel to the alternative training site.

[CheezWizHed]

Right now, their best DH option is probably whomever is not catching. Narvaez has looked poor, but history indicates that will change. Pina looks like he is refreshed after sitting all of last year (almost).

[Oxy]

For as poorly as the team has hit overall there have been a couple bright spots: Arcia, Urias and to a lesser extent Mathias have all looked pretty decent. I'd rather have those guys hitting well than guys like Gyorko and Holt and Sogard, who have no value to the franchise beyond October of this year.

 

Regardless, the strength of this team is its pitching. It's easily the deepest group of arms the Brewers have had since... well, as long as I can remember. They haven't quite pitched up to their potential yet, but the signs are there.

[sveumrules]

Regardless, the strength of this team is its pitching. It's easily the deepest group of arms the Brewers have had since... well, as long as I can remember. They haven't quite pitched up to their potential yet, but the signs are there.

 

The numbers bear out your observation, so far our ERA- of 92 ranks 13th, our FIP- of 91 ranks 7th & our xFIP- (the most predictive of these stats after a 20 game sample) of 85 ranks 4th.

 

For comparison, when the Brewers pitching opened the year getting shelled last season their ERA-/FIP-/xFIP- stood at 118/117/102 after 20 games. By the 60th game it was at 100/100/100.

[KeithStone53151]

For as poorly as the team has hit overall there have been a couple bright spots: Arcia, Urias and to a lesser extent Mathias have all looked pretty decent. I'd rather have those guys hitting well than guys like Gyorko and Holt and Sogard, who have no value to the franchise beyond October of this year.

 

Regardless, the strength of this team is its pitching. It's easily the deepest group of arms the Brewers have had since... well, as long as I can remember. They haven't quite pitched up to their potential yet, but the signs are there.

 

I thought Arcia was a bright spot, then I looked a little close at the numbers and my thoughts are a bit mixed. Watching him hit, a lot of his hits seemed pretty lucky. A lot of medium/hard hit grounders finding a hole in the infield, so I've wanted to look and see for a bit now. Aside from the numbers, I'll note it seems he's taking more pitches this year than last year and generally has a better eye.

 

That said, I'll start with the good. Hard hit % is up to 36% from 31 in 2019 and 28 in 2018. Whiff% is down to 21% from 24.6 and 28.9 in 2019 and 2018. Chase% is down to 25% from 30 and 35 in 2019 and 2018. All of that is actually very good, and generally a good trend means he's progressed consecutive years. The things I don't like, BB rate is down to 6% from 8% last year, though it was 4.1% in 2018. He's also hitting the ball on the ground at the highest rate of his career at 58% up from 51% and 55% in 2018 and 2019. He's also notably hitting the ball up the middle more with a 24/54/22 split left/center/right versus 37/36/27 in 2019 and 33/44/23 in 2018. With defenses getting so good, he really needs to be elevating the ball more. Those grounders, especially up the middle, are going to lead to a ton of double plays. He's grounded into 5 in 19 games, while grounding into 15 in 152 games in 2019 and 9 in 119 games in 2018.

 

Bottom line, he's made some notable improvements at the plate which is good...but he's definitely due for regression based on his batted ball profile and a .325 BABIP. All that said, it is only 19 games...those metrics could change in a hurry.

[KeithStone53151]

Regardless, the strength of this team is its pitching. It's easily the deepest group of arms the Brewers have had since... well, as long as I can remember. They haven't quite pitched up to their potential yet, but the signs are there.

 

The numbers bear out your observation, so far our ERA- of 92 ranks 13th, our FIP- of 91 ranks 7th & our xFIP- (the most predictive of these stats after a 20 game sample) of 85 ranks 4th.

 

For comparison, when the Brewers pitching opened the year getting shelled last season their ERA-/FIP-/xFIP- stood at 118/117/102 after 20 games. By the 60th game it was at 100/100/100.

 

I'll also add to this, all these numbers include all the times we threw guys like Justin Grimm out in games that were over early to get shelled. I wonder how we'd rank compared to other teams if we included only pitchers we'd actually use on a potential playoff roster.

[balsamlaker]

At this point, my favorite Brewer lineup may be Hiura at DH with Urias and Arcia up the middle.

[Oxy]

Yelich still hasn't had a red-hot vintage Yelich type streak, but he's clearly out of his slump. He is slashing .294/.431/.686 in August for a cool OPS of 1.117.

[Eye Black]

In case people didn’t catch this from Ken Rosenthal’s article in The Athletic yesterday:

 

‘Hello, Christian? It’s the hit king’

 

Earlier this month, the Brewers’ Christian Yelich received batting tips from none other than Pete Rose.

 

The all-time hit king is a Yelich fan, and he asked a Reds clubhouse attendant to pass his number to the then-slumping former MVP while Cincinnati was visiting Milwaukee.

 

Rose said he told Yelich to back off the plate slightly so he could better handle the ball in and also told him to use the whole field the way he did last season.

 

Yelich declined to discuss the conversation, saying he preferred to keep it private. Rose said, “I watch baseball every day. I wish I could help players every day. I want to watch good players play well.”

[Greenleaf1]

Yelich still hasn't had a red-hot vintage Yelich type streak, but he's clearly out of his slump. He is slashing .294/.431/.686 in August for a cool OPS of 1.117.

 

I know exactly what you meant by your first sentence, but at least in my opinion, your second sentence really negates the first.

 

baseball-reference actually shows him a little better than what you wrote: .294/.446/.686 (1.132 OPS).

 

Insane how spoiled we are by Yelich when a monthly OPS of 1.132 somehow doesn't seem red-hot, but that would only be his 5th best month since the beginning of 2018.

 

Basically it looks like Yelich needed a few more weeks of spring training, but he's right back to where we would all expect now.

[sveumrules]

Player | 2020 OPS+ / ZIPS Proj OPS+ | Difference

 

(Positive Regression Likely Incoming)

 

Holt | 4 / 95 | -91

Omar | 22 / 106 | -84

Gamel | 41 / 86 | -45

Smoak | 61 / 106 | -45

Sogard | 55 / 85 | -30

Braun | 78 / 107 | -29

Yelich | 121 / 149 | -28

 

(Just About Right, But Still Underperforming Slightly)

 

Keston | 106 / 115 | -9

Avisail | 98 / 107 | -9

Gyorko | 93 / 98 | -5

 

(Negative Regression Likely Incoming)

 

Urias | 113 / 95 | +18

Arcia | 98 / 75 | +23

Manny | 117 / 78 | +39

[Eye Black]

If things don’t turn around soon offensively, I would like to see the Brewers give priority to the hitters that are likely to be part of this lineup next year.

 

For the remainder of the season I would like to see a top four in the lineup of:

 

Urias ®

Yelich (L)

Hiura ®

Garcia ®

 

I understand the platoon advantage thing they are trying to do with batter handedness, but at some point you need to have some consistency and get your future players the majority of the plate appearances

[SomewhereInTime]

I know it's a small amount of games and this lineup definitely isn't this bad, but it's still likely one of the worst Brewers lineups I've seen in my lifetime. You can look back at the bad times of the early 2000's or late '90's too and I'd take just about any of those lineups (granted, the reason those teams lost was starting pitching and I definitely would not want to trade full teams with teams from that era).

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIL/2003.shtml

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIL/2004.shtml

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIL/2001.shtml

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIL/2000.shtml

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIL/1999.shtml

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIL/1998.shtml

[balsamlaker]

In a career (MLB hitting coach) that tends to not have a long life with individual teams, not a good sign for Andy Haines. With such a short season, I don't think teams will make many changes in-season but the Brewers could with Lane also on staff. Anyone else notice the players performing well below ZIPS projections are almost all left-handed hitters?