keston hiura recalled from class aaa nashville

[LouisEly]

Add another HR vs RHP

[torts]

KESTDADDY doing thaaaangs

[Robocaller]

Hiura's OPS vs RHP is 1.395, His OPS vs LHP is 0.357.

(posted this in the game thread, sorry for the repeat.)

[Ewitkows1]

Any chance they could get him to shag balls in LF? McCutchen ain't cutting it .

[timpep]

2 hours ago, Ewitkows1 said:

Any chance they could get him to shag balls in LF? McCutchen ain't cutting it .

He played OF very briefly in the minors last year. In college he was primarily a center fielder, never played the infield until drafted. Now that his arm is fully healed he could potentially play a mediocre LF.

[Robocaller]

3 hours ago, Ewitkows1 said:

Any chance they could get him to shag balls in LF? McCutchen ain't cutting it .

Why they're pencilling McCutchen in every game (not just every game against LHP) is one of the great imponderables of CC's managing decision, related to his choice to start Hiura almost exclusively against LHP when he does better against RHP.
If half of McCutchen's starts against RHP were given to Hiura, I'd be satisfied.

[Austin Tatious]

13 minutes ago, Robocaller said:

Why they're pencilling McCutchen in every game (not just every game against LHP) is one of the great imponderables of CC's managing decision, related to his choice to start Hiura almost exclusively against LHP when he does better against RHP.
If half of McCutchen's starts against RHP were given to Hiura, I'd be satisfied.

Once Renfroe is back, Cutch should not see right handers again.  It’s ugly at this stage of his career.  Meanwhile, Hiura should get regular AB’s against RHP.   

Love Counsell but, man, he can be some combination of eccentric and stubborn.  If he goes against the grain and it doesn’t work, he will double down to try to prove his odd decision was right all along but it inevitably just gets worse.  Like quick-sand.  

[timpep]

I do wonder if the McCutchen at bats have something to do with a promise to a veteran to give him a chance to be an everyday player.  

[Brewcrew82]

10 minutes ago, timpep said:

I do wonder if the McCutchen at bats have something to do with a promise to a veteran to give him a chance to be an everyday player.  

What I'm thinking myself. If true, then when is the promise considered fulfilled? Hopefully soon. Cause Keston has been raking against right-handers. 

[Robocaller]

2 hours ago, Austin Tatious said:

 

Once Renfroe is back, Cutch should not see right handers again.  It’s ugly at this stage of his career.  Meanwhile, Hiura should get regular AB’s against RHP.   

Love Counsell but, man, he can be some combination of eccentric and stubborn.  If he goes against the grain and it doesn’t work, he will double down to try to prove his odd decision was right all along but it inevitably just gets worse.  Like quick-sand.  

I hope that's true, but there hasn't been any evidence that CC is leaning that way.

[Frisbee Slider]

Cubs are calling up Matt Swarmer (RHP) to make his MLB debut and start in game one. A right hander just called up from Triple-A seems like a perfect moment for Keston today.

[young guns]

Has anyone had the balls to straight up ask cc why keston isn't getting an opportunity vs rightys instead of McCutchen?

[sveumrules]

13 minutes ago, young guns said:

Has anyone had the balls to straight up ask cc why keston isn't getting an opportunity vs rightys instead of McCutchen?

Maybe if the twitterers bug McCalvy enough about it he’ll try to find out?

Only thing that really makes sense is that McCutchen got some kind of guarantee for regular PAs to start the year, hopefully with the understanding that those opportunities would be scaled back if he didn’t take advantage of them as the season goes on.

[benji]

At this point its the only thing that makes sense. Sterns and Counsell are not this dumb. There is something we arent aware of

[wntrtxn21]

34 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Maybe if the twitterers bug McCalvy enough about it he’ll try to find out?

Only thing that really makes sense is that McCutchen got some kind of guarantee for regular PAs to start the year, hopefully with the understanding that those opportunities would be scaled back if he didn’t take advantage of them as the season goes on.

• McCutchon is the backup OF right now with Renfroe out. Yesterday Yelich was the DH and Peterson was at 3B. If CC doesn't want Cain to play then McCutchon is the RF. I imagine if Yelich is back in LF today then Hiura will be the DH with McCutchon in RF. I hope once Renfroe gets back, both Cain and McCutchon will be relegated to the bench (if Hiura keeps hitting).

[djoctagone]

with today's optional assignment of keston hiura, it is almost certain that he will burn his final option.

[djoctagone]

 

[adambr2]

Was it really that important to protect the roster spot of Jonathan Davis?

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

50 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

Was it really that important to protect the roster spot of Jonathan Davis?

I assume the team feels that Cutch and Renfroe can play CF in a pinch, but not on a full time basis.

[adambr2]

1 hour ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

I assume the team feels that Cutch and Renfroe can play CF in a pinch, but not on a full time basis.

I'm sure there's a lot of nuances I don't understand, but I don't really get how a guy who basically played nothing but CF his entire career just suddenly can't play CF a few years ago. 

I get that he's 36, but so was Cain, and his problem certainly wasn't that he couldn't play CF.

[djoctagone]

2 hours ago, adambr2 said:

Was it really that important to protect the roster spot of Jonathan Davis?

or, did the brewers really need that 13th pitcher with just five games to play before a lengthy break?

[YelichPosse]

I get the theory behind it. But that doesn't explain 3 catchers. (When we have 2 that are combining to do terrific this year).

A struggling offense and a guy who has been working the count (I never thought I would say this about Keston) and driving the ball - gets the shuttle to Nashville.

I understand Davis being the only "true CF" at this point... but the catcher thing, and the extra pitcher during a stretch of several off days/nearing ASB - confuses me more than anything.

Couple all that with the fact that CC until maybe the last 7 days kept misplaying Keston vs L when he should be in vs R'HP's. 

I dont know that any of our armchair ideas would bear more fruit, but - imagine of CC played Keston correctly.... makes me wonder if he wouldn't be almost back to where he once was. I respect a guy who put in work to get back - and it's clear he has done that. Only to be misused. It's frustrating. We shouldn't be this frustrated with a 1st place club - but... we are. lol.

[Jopal78]

17 minutes ago, YelichPosse said:

I get the theory behind it. But that doesn't explain 3 catchers. (When we have 2 that are combining to do terrific this year).

A struggling offense and a guy who has been working the count (I never thought I would say this about Keston) and driving the ball - gets the shuttle to Nashville.

I understand Davis being the only "true CF" at this point... but the catcher thing, and the extra pitcher during a stretch of several off days/nearing ASB - confuses me more than anything.

Couple all that with the fact that CC until maybe the last 7 days kept misplaying Keston vs L when he should be in vs R'HP's. 

I dont know that any of our armchair ideas would bear more fruit, but - imagine of CC played Keston correctly.... makes me wonder if he wouldn't be almost back to where he once was. I respect a guy who put in work to get back - and it's clear he has done that. Only to be misused. It's frustrating. We shouldn't be this frustrated with a 1st place club - but... we are. lol.

What's so hard to understand? Severino and Narvaez cannot be sent down, Caratini has been one of their better hitters. With Brosseau having more defensive versatility, and no other CFer it seems like Hiura was the obvious choice, especially with 2/5 of their opening day rotation on the IL. 

 

[monty57]

Hiura has been so good against RHP this year that even though he has been misused by the team and has been predominantly used against LHP against whom he has been terrible, his combined wOBA (.356) and wRC+ (128) are still better than any of our "regulars" this season.

I understand that Hiura strikes out too much, but he has been their best hitter vs RHP this season, and there isn't even a close second. When the biggest complaint has been how our offense needs an upgrade, I don't understand what they're doing with him.

McCutchen's hot streak (which hasn't been as hot as Hiura has been all season vs RHP) has him up to a -3.6 offensive bWAR and -0.1 overall bWAR for the season. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad McCutchen has remembered how to hit, and I want him to do well, but we still would have been far better off by simply platooning the DH position all season with Hiura facing RHP and McCutchen facing LHP.

There are plenty of ways the Brewers could have found more PAs for Hiura this season, and since he's outhitting all of the other options, I think that would have made sense. It seems obvious that the Brewers are not going to allow him to get regular playing time and the high K rate is probably the reason, so I'm getting to the point that I wish they'd just trade him so he can put up a .900+ OPS somewhere that will use him correctly.

[sveumrules]

2 hours ago, adambr2 said:

I'm sure there's a lot of nuances I don't understand, but I don't really get how a guy who basically played nothing but CF his entire career just suddenly can't play CF a few years ago. 

I get that he's 36, but so was Cain, and his problem certainly wasn't that he couldn't play CF.

McCutchen’s was never really a good defensive CF. Started his career with -7 DRS and -11.4 UZR from 2009-13 but then cratered to -56 DRS and -30.9 UZR from 2014-17.

No nuance required, he was just a brutal defensive CF.

Different guys age differently & it looks like Cutch lost his wheels after 2013 (+31.4 on the bases 2009-13, -10.9 since) which coincided with his similarly precipitous fielding decline.