We asked for questions from readers about the Milwaukee Brewers and you asked about the left side of the infield.
A lot.
Even during a torrid stretch of play by the Brewers over the past month-plus, and even with Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison pitching like two of the best in baseball, the hottest topic in our mailbag was what the team should do about its low-end production at shortstop and third base from Joey Ortiz, David Hamilton and Luis Rengifo.
Let’s dig into it. (Questions edited lightly for clarity.)
Cooper Pratt, Jett Williams and Luis Rengifo
Will we see prospects like Cooper Pratt or Jett Williams getting called up during the season?
Yes. At least one is a guarantee. Both seems more likely than not, assuming they keep producing at a decent clip at Class AAA Nashville.
Do the Brewers make an infield change from the minors around the 12th of June? Isn’t that the cutoff so that they protect another year of arbitration?
How long will they go with Rengifo? He has no power, a .200 average and is a defensive liability.
How much longer does the Luis Rengifo experiment go on before we see Jett Williams or Cooper Pratt in the big leagues?
We don’t know exactly when the super-2 arbitration cutoff date will be from this season, but it’s just about a guarantee it already has passed. (It’s also worth noting that isn’t relevant for Pratt, who already has signed a contract extension and is getting that salary one way or another.)
If the Brewers wanted to part ways with Luis Rengifo and call up a prospect, they simply could without any worries about potential future arbitration impact.
And if they did that, it would be tough to blame them or say they didn’t give Rengifo enough of a chance. He was up to 160 plate appearances entering June 3, not making much hard contact, hitting too many grounders, chasing too much and not playing very consistent defense.
Why is Cooper Pratt not up yet? There’s no worry about the service clock since they just signed him to an 8-year contact. He can’t be any worse than Rengifo.
I separated this question from the pack so we can talk a bit more about Pratt specifically.
I think Pratt is ready, but he’s not 100% ready. Now, you could easily argue that distinction doesn’t matter because if you played him in an everyday role in Milwaukee right now he would be likely to produce more value than Ortiz and Rengifo. I’d even agree with that point.
Pratt is hitting .296 and slugging .539 with nearly as many walks and strikeouts since April 25. Mix in his defense at shortstop and that’s a guy who seems ready.
Is he knocking the door down? Not quite, even if his numbers are quite good.
Is he better than some of the options the Brewers have right now? Probably.
But the Brewers are all about preserving depth. Right now, they’re winning, so they don’t see a need to shake up that depth.
Do you think the Brewers’ apparent hesitancy to bring up minor league stars stems from the potential of losing a year of team control to a potential lockout?
I don’t think this factors into it much. If this mattered, you could make as strong a case that they would want to push their prospects up quicker with a lockout looming.
Ultimately, I think we’re just talking about an organization that’s incredibly patient and cautious with its promotions in an era when that is not the case for most teams.
What about Luis Lara?
With Milwaukee’s struggles in the outfield (Blake Perkins and Sal Frelick not hitting), why is Luis Lara still sitting in Nashville? Are there holes in his swing? Service time?
As a switch hitter who is arguably an equal defender and unarguably a better baserunner and bat, how has the Luis Lara promotion and Blake Perkins demotion not happened? I understand the service time clock argument, but Lara has done everything to force their hand and with Brandon Lockridge hurt and Garrett Mitchell and Sal both struggling for most of May, it felt like there was certainly regular playing time Lara could have gotten.
It’s about playing time for Luis Lara at this point. He wouldn’t get the consistent at-bats he needs for his development in an outfield with Jackson Chourio, Mitchell and Frelick (not to mention Jake Bauers from time to time because his bat is a must-have in the lineup). So it just doesn’t make sense for him to be up right now.
David Hamilton’s development
What can we expect out of David Hamilton long term? I feel like he is just scratching his surface and has a lot of good baseball in him and more good walk-up songs.
I’d like to see more players branch out with their walk-up songs, but that’s neither here nor there.
As for Hamilton, yes, there is more in there than he’s shown – though we’ve been seeing some flashes of it lately. Jack Stern at Brewer Fanatic broke down some of Hamilton’s stats this week, so check that out if you’d like. You can also see some of it just with your eyes. He’s a superb athlete with more juice than your typical low-exit velocity, speedster hitter.
Manager Pat Murphy has made repeated references to Hamilton being heavily tinkered with over the years, to the point where it’s almost harder to get adjustments to stick. There’s a delicate balance going on between Hamilton still trying to be an on-base-and-speed guy who bunts and slaps while also taking his hacks, and sometimes you can see the difficulties of that conflict play out in real time.
I don’t know if there’s a breakout, per se, in his profile but he can certainly be a better overall hitter than we’ve seen.
ABS challenges
Why do you think the Brewers are having less success with ABS challenges than many teams? For a team that prides itself on doing the little things well, this is surprising and disappointing.
Milwaukee is having some of the most success of anyone on the fielding side, with their 49 overturns (all from catchers) ranking second-most in baseball.
I’m not sure what, exactly, to make of the lack of success on offense. We saw a couple overturns at the plate against the Giants this week, including a big one by Bauers, but the Brewers have 15 ABS wins on offense, which is by far the fewest in baseball.
The Brewers prefer to use the majority of challenges on defense, but it’s not like they’re telling their hitters not to challenge. They want them to use them on borderline pitches in key spots…yet the hitters are leaving opportunities on the table. Against the Giants on June 2, Christian Yelich clearly disagreed with a 1-1 strike call on a ball outside the zone with two on and two outs in a one-run game in the eighth inning but didn’t tap his helmet despite Milwaukee having two left.
It hasn’t mattered a ton yet but it is odd.
Injury updates
Can you update Jared Koenig and Brandon Woodruff status?
They’re getting close. Woodruff threw a live batting practice at the stadium June 3 and likely will have one more outing of some sort before being activated, so he could be back as soon as the next homestand.
Koenig has pitched twice at Nashville. He’ll likely spend the rest of this week there and could join the team next week.
Sal Frelick’s struggles
Forever a Sal Guy, but Frelick has a lower barrel percentage than Joey Ortiz and negative DRS (defensive runs saved). He has a better track record, is a favorite of Murph’s, and will probably get an (even longer) leash. Anything more to it than stop pounding balls into the ground?
Here are the things I think about Frelick right now.
How good, exactly, are the Brewers?
Record-wise, this team is overachieving, right? This just doesn’t feel sustainable given all the clear weak spots.
Am I wrong to think they’re really not? Their run differential is third in baseball and their expected record based upon that is 39-19.
They have two of the five best pitchers in baseball this year in Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison, and you’re going to win a ton of ballgames when two guys are giving up one run maximum in nearly 40% of your total games.
I still don’t fully buy that the offense is likely to work as is for three or four series in October, but I’m well past the point of wondering if they can score runs during the regular season this way.
But if we want to talk about the playoffs already…
Rolling out Rengifo and Ortiz will destroy them in an October series.
This is probably true! It is my professional opinion, after five years of covering baseball every day, that trotting out two hitters with an OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) that begins with a five would be bad to do in the playoffs.
I also just don’t see that happening. It’s fair to be skeptical that the Brewers make a splashy upgrade to the left side of the infield at the trade deadline in August given their track record, but they have to do something.
If Ortiz and Rengifo are both starting come playoff time, I will let Todd Rosiak concoct a sandwich using whatever ingredients he wants and I will eat it live on the Microbrew podcast.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Should Cooper Pratt be called up given infield struggles? | Brewers mailbag
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
