Prior to diving into the first Sunday Cycle in the month of May, I want to make one thing very clear: I’m not worried about the Milwaukee Brewers. At just a game out of 1st place in the NL Central, and technically the 2nd Wild Card if the season ended today, the Crew is right where any fan could reasonably expect them to be 20% of the way through the regular season. Had you asked me on Opening Day where I’d like to see the Brewers on the first Sunday of May, I would’ve asked for them to be relevant in the NL Central, which they are.
It’s been well documented that the Brewers have one of the best bullpens in all of baseball. They’ve ridden their pen, some above average (and certainly unexpected) stretches of games from their starting rotation, and very timely hitting to arrive at their current 20-15 record. But enough baseball has passed to start to see where this team is falling short.
Again, I’m not worried about the fate of this team. We’ve still got just under five months left in the regular season – that’s an eternity, especially in baseball when transactions and roster moves are made on a daily basis; however I do have a few concerns. I trust that if I’m concerned, so is the Brewers front office, and they’re going to at least make an attempt to improve the level of play.
So here are my concerns, just over a month into the season. Do these keep me up at night? No – they don’t. But if the Brewers really are committed to winning and want to make a run at October baseball, they’re going to have to do something about these issues. And in an effort to wow you with my journalistic talents, I’m going to show you how they’re all intertwined.
The inconsistency on offense is starting to look like a real issue.
The Brewers were shutout today for the 7th time this season. They were shutout just nine times all of last year. If they continue at this rate, they will be shutout 32 times this year – shattering the franchise record of 20. Here’s a hot piece of baseball analysis: that’s too many shutouts.
Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich were brought to Milwaukee to put this offense over the top, but right now it feels more like they’re in the lineup to keep it afloat. They can’t do it alone, which leads to my next point…
The Brewers have a middle infield problem.
The Brewers are getting next to no offensive production from their middle infielders. On the 2nd base side, I can’t explain it any better than Brad Ford from Brew Crew Ball did this past week, so I’d read his recap. To summarize – Villar, while owning a respectable .277 average, is striking out a ton and isn’t walking, which is leading to an OBP .313.
As for Villar’s backups, time may soon be running out for Eric Sogard and Hernan Perez, which is a bummer. You’d be hard pressed to find players that are more likable than those two, but they look lost, and there is far too much talent waiting in Colorado Springs to continue letting it ride with Sogard and Perez.
There’s a far bigger story line, however, brewing at short stop. This is year three of every day playing time for Orlando Arcia, and the Brewers may have to start thinking about alternative plans. It’s no secret that Arcia is one of the best defensive short stops in the game, but he’s hitting .227 and has already grounded into a team high five double plays this year, half of his 2017 season total of 10. Not good!
In fairness, the Brewers also have a third base problem
I’m convinced that Travis Shaw is going to hit .290+ with 25 home runs, so there’s very little actual concern here. But if we’re going to call out the middle infield for lack of production, we have to also call out 3rd base.
Sure, Shaw has 6 home runs, which leads the active roster (Eric Thames has 7, but is on the DL), but he’s batting a dismal .230. He hasn’t been the clutch hitter we started to get accustomed to last yer, swinging just .233 with RISP and .118 with RISP and two outs.
Shaw will bounce back, I’m sure of that.
Really, the Brewers have a bottom of the lineup problem.
The catching has been awful too – it’s amazing how much the Brewers miss Stephen Vogt, who unfortunately appears to have suffered a setback during a minor league rehab assignment and is headed back to Milwaukee to see how much additional time he will miss. Combine those three positions with the pitcher spot, and you’ve got a gaping hole in the lineup from 6-9. That puts a TON of pressure on your 1-5 guys to produce, and it’s showing. Lorenzo Cain, Travis Shaw, Ryan Braun, and Christian Yelich are all currently hitting below their career batting averages. My thought? They’re pressing – trying to do too much with every at bat to make up for the black hole that is the 6-9 spots in the Brewers lineup, which leads me to my final point.
The Brewers might need a little bit of an attitude adjustment.
The Brewers have been shutout in 20% of their games this year. That’s an astoundingly high number for how talented this offense has historically been. It’s honestly so high that it’s an outlier, which has you searching for reasons why something out of the ordinary is happening. My guess? Maybe the Brewers just need a bit of an attitude adjustment.
The Brewers have been hit hard by the injury bug in all the wrong places. They came into this season with every intention of hitting their way to October, and it just hasn’t happened that way yet. I like Lorenzo Cain, he’s going to be great for this team, but his body language as of late has been far more “sore loser” than “veteran leader”. Ryan Braun has always been a talker, but I feel like he’s chirping after every single called strike or solid defense play that robs him of a hit. People continue to question Domingo Santana’s lazy demeanor.
The Brewers need to shake up the locker room. You don’t score 0 runs in 27 outs because a couple of people are having a bad day – you get shutout seven times because you start to phone it in when the game gets out of reach. While I’m sure as heck not going to spend my Sunday afternoon watching the bottom of the 8th inning in a 9 run loss, the veterans on this team need to lead by example and keep the team focused on those at bats. Use those opportunities to try to iron out some poor mechanics, or try to make a subtle adjustments, or God forbid, take a couple of pitches and hope for a walk.
I stand by what I said when I opened the article: I’m not worried about the Milwaukee Brewers. That said, Craig Counsell is a manager that’s not afraid to shake things up, and if the Brewers continue their inconsistent ways, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple of new young hitters in the dugout in the near future. This bullpen can’t be perfect forever – the bats are going to have to wake up soon.