We are a little more than a month away from opening day for baseball. This is the last bit of a stretch of 5 months without anything except trades, free agency, and a cheating scandal that will be looked upon as a bigger black mark on baseball than the steroid era. Really nothing substantial. In this offseason for a Brewers fan, many accusations were made at the front office, such as they are "cheap" and "our championship window is closed". After not hitting on any big free agents, many complained about how the Brewers don't care about winning and how we should have thrown endless amounts of money on a big name because we can. However, these people ignore the one central truth of Brewers baseball: David Stearns is smarter than all of us. Through this winter I have fully trusted the man to put out a contending, though probably unconventional, team. With the very recent signing of the infield multitool Brock Holt, Stearns once again showed he is working on a different level than any of us mere mortals. After seeing an early 2019 season rerun game, I laughed at what our infield looked like then as compared to what it will look like on opening day this year. I decided to try and give a preview on multiple new infielders you will see from the Brewers this year.
Jedd Gyorko - 1 year, $2 million with a 2021 Club Option
If the Brewers can get him to produce as he did in his three full seasons with the Cardinals, he will be a nice hitting piece. In his best year (2017) he rocked an .813 OPS, a 22% strikeout rate (a little worse than league average in 2017), and 20 home runs. Now a slightly concerning trend was his home runs; in 2016 he hit 30, 2017 20, and in 2018 he had 11. All three years he had around the same plate appearances. However, a good trend was each year he lowered his strikeout rate and raised his walk rate. He also had the highest hard-hit percentage of his career in 2018 (37.1%), meaning even though the homers were down he was still putting a charge on the ball. His plate discipline could use some improvement; his career outside-the-zone swing percentage is at 30.9% with little change year to year. His 2019 was marred by multiple injuries, a trade to the Dodgers, and some minor league rehab. Overall, he will be a decent hitter and will be a plug-in-anywhere kind of infielder. He has over 2,000 innings logged at third and over 3,000 innings at second so he has the versatility that Counsell loves in his guys.
Eric Sogard - 1 year $4.5 Million with a 2021 Club Option
Now you may remember his 2-year stint with the Brewers. In 2017 he was ok at the plate, boasting a .770 OPS with a quality 12.4% strikeout rate and 15.1% walk rate. Now 2018 Eric is a different story; he played 55 games, had 113 at-bats, and had a .406 OPS. Yup OPS, the one where you add two things. It was a terrible year at the plate, and that is why he was released mid-season. He was able to turn it around in 2019, starting out on the Blue Jays and ending the season on the Rays. Combined, he played 110 games, 396 at-bats, and had the best year at the plate he has ever had in the majors: .810 OPS, 14.3% strikeout rate, and a career-high (by a lot) 13 homers. He also had his highest hard-hit percentage, at 35.1%, and was good for a medium-hit 47.2%. In his one good year with the Brewers, he had a 32% fly-ball rate and 3 homers. Last year he had a 42% fly-ball rate and 13 homers. He improved himself, found his bit of power, and is coming back to a very hitter-friendly Miller Park. He also is another guy who can play anywhere in the infield. Over 3,000 innings at second, 260 at third, and 800 at short. Craig Counsell did say that Sogard and Gyroko would platoon third, and I'm sure that is where they will probably play the most, but also expect to see both of them play a decent amount at second and maybe short. He perfectly fits this team and his hitting greatly improved over last season. He won't change a lot of games but he should be a consistent piece who might take over one or two games in the year. Also, his wife and kids are awesome and gave us this gem in 2017.
Brock Holt - 1 year $3.2 Million, 2021 Team Option
This is the acquisition I am most excited about. The "Swiss Army Knife" played every position except pitcher, catcher, and centerfield last year for the Red Sox. He is the perfect player for everything Counsell wants to do. He is also a fan favorite, and a great team chemistry guy who does amazing work off the field. He will immediately be loved by all Brewers fans. He also is no slouch at the plate, as last year he rocked a .771 OPS. He is a contact hitter by nature, with a career-high of 7 home runs. He has a career groundball percentage of 52.4% and a medium hit percentage of 50%. This just shows he puts the ball in play and lets ye ol' Baseball Gods decide if you got a hit. The Gods are kind to him though, with last season having him tie his career-high in BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) of .365. Very importantly, 2019 saw him with his highest hard hit % (35.4%), which was 6% higher than his 2018. He did this by keeping his medium hit % the same and cutting away at his soft hit % which was close to a career-low last season (14.6%). Now, Brock has had some injury troubles the past couple years, with 2015 being the last year he played a full season without any stints on the IL and rehabbing in the Minors. Last year, he only missed April and May with a scratched cornea and was able to play during the slog of June through October. If he can stay healthy, and keep up what he was doing last season, he will immediately make an impact at the plate by getting on base at a high clip and will be able to fill in basically anywhere on the field, meaning we can keep the team rested for a deep postseason run.
Ryon Healy - 1 year $1 Million
I will update once we know he made the team.
Luis Urias - 1 year $557,000
Will do one whole blog on him
Like I said before, predicting day to day infield lineups would be nonsensical in the Counsell system. Basically, anyone will play anywhere, except Hiura will almost always be Second, and Urias almost always be short. Hopefully, now you can impress (bore) all your friends with in-depth stats and reasoning on the new guys. Big shout out to Fangraphs for all the stats and Nathan Rodebaugh (of Slabstox.com) for making me seem smart by explaining what stats to look for and how to use them.
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