Brewers Spring Training Battles: Mike Brosseau vs. Keston Hiura

Because Mike Brosseau has a minor-league option remaining, allowing the Brewers to send him to Triple-A Nashville if they so choose, it’s just possible that Keston Hiuera has the inside track on the gig in question. As frustrating as he has been, Hiura is about as dangerous a hitter as a team might call upon, late in a close game, with the go-ahead run due up or on base. Hiura also retains just a bit of the sheen that laid over him for so long, thanks to his first-round draft pick status and dazzling debut season.

Brosseau is about as much the antithesis of Hiura as is possible. One year before Hiura was the ninth player selected in the Draft, Brosseau was an undrafted college senior. Whereas Hiura’s one redeeming quality is the ability to hammer the ball when he manages to catch one fat, eliciting eye-popping exit velocities, Brosseau has a peculiar knack for hitting it solidly but without spectacle. 

Batted Balls 88-103 MPH, as Percentage of All Batted Balls, 2021-22 (min. 150 Batted Balls, n=469)

He lifts the ball, he hits it soundly, and he has good athleticism, to boot. Brosseau is never going to be a hitter on par with Arraez or Betts, but he really does have an exceptional feel for making solid contact. Unfortunately, he doesn’t do it often enough. The biggest separator between him and all the other players populating the top of that leaderboard is that Brosseau strikes out 30 percent of the time, like clockwork. He’s fanned at least that much in each of the last three campaigns.

Hiura, of course, makes him look great by comparison. Though his batted-ball numbers are much more impressive in a vacuum, he doesn’t get much more mileage from them than Brosseau gets from his contact, because he doesn’t manage to put bat to ball quite as often. His strikeout rate of 38.5 percent since the start of 2020 is the worst among players with at least 600 plate appearances during that span.

When making these kinds of calls, though, it’s important to be strengths-focused. Hiura has menacing power. Brosseau balances good pop with defensive versatility and a slightly better batting eye. Either guy can help the team in 2023. Some of the question of which one makes it depends on things beyond either man’s control.

For instance, if both Brice Turang and Abraham Toro have strong spring training showings, they’re more likely to make the Opening Day roster together. That would virtually eliminate the chances of both Brosseau and Hiura making the cut, but increase the likelihood that the Brewers would stash Brosseau in Nashville, awaiting an opportunity based on injury or ineptitude. Things would slant in Hiura’s direction, then, not only because Brosseau would be able to play regularly and step up if an opening emerged, but because his defense would be much less important if both Toro and Turang were there to patch in with Willy Adames, Brian Anderson, and Luis Urías. 

Brosseau’s path to forcing Hiura out of the way includes some struggles from at least one of Toro and Anderson, but it also requires Brosseau himself to continue to demonstrate an ability to evolve and adapt at the plate. When he came up in 2019, he had a slightly awkward, stiff-legged setup at the plate, and a complicated load phase before he actually got off his swing. 

 

Over the last two seasons, and even as 2022 progressed, he made some significant adjustments. His leg kick is quieter now. He’s more balanced and athletic. His hands start higher, and they move much more directly into the hitting zone, though a small hitch remains.

That's just one example, of several. Brosseau has also incorporated a two-strike approach that involves just a toe tap, rather than a leg kick, and he's finding better ways to move his desired contact point deeper or further out in front of home plate, according to the situation. That very hunger to improve is the trait that got Brosseau this far, and the Brewers prized it from the moment they targeted him in trade. The question now is whether he can continue to adjust so quickly even as he nears age 30, and the answer should be evident some time during camp. The way Brosseau moves, attacks the ball, and manages the strike zone will be keys to watch during Cactus League games. 

There remains a decent chance, given the options available, that either Brosseau or Hiura will be traded sometime near Opening Day. Matt Arnold will, sooner or later, need the spot on both the 26-man and the 40-man rosters that one of the two currently occupies. That means that the stakes are high for Brosseau, but even higher for Hiura, who needs to show that he can lay off the pitch up and in and force pitchers to throw him a strike he can wallop. 

With Rowdy Tellez and Urías playing for Team México; Adames for Team Dominican Republic; and Toro for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic, there will be ample game reps available to infielders early in camp. Brosseau and Hiura are the ones who will need to make hay while the early March sun is shining.