Milwaukee Brewers: Good, Bad, and Ugly from Opening Week

The Milwaukee Brewers dropped three of four against Colorado and then dropped two of three to the Cubs to end the weekend.  The Brewers are now 2-5 and have played some terrible baseball thus far.

Milwaukee Brewers – The Good

Corner Infielders

There have been a few bright spots for the Brewers through the first week. The corner infielders have been playing great baseball.

Eric Thames, Jesus Aguilar, and Travis Shaw are all off to great starts. Shaw is hitting to a line of .280/.379/.600 with five doubles, and a homer in 7 games. Thames is slashing .333/.429/.611 with a home run and three RBI. Thames has also been giving the Brewers innings in the outfield so that they can keep Aguilar in the lineup.

Jesus Aguilar has been the biggest surprise for the Brew Crew. He’s batting .438 and playing some great defense at first. He turned two huge double plays against the Cubs Friday night that a lot of first basemen wouldn’t have made.

Back end rotation

Wily Peralta, Jimmy Nelson, and Chase Anderson all came into Spring fighting for a rotation spot. All three had great starts.

Nelson and Anderson both went six strong while giving up one earned run. Nelson also struck out eight. Peralta went five strong and did not allow a run.

Seeing these three guys throw so well was great to see. Peralta relies on his velocity, and his average fastball velocity was above 96 MPH according to MLB.com. Nelson and Anderson commanded the ball well, and limited walks. Without Guerra for another month, it’s imperative for these guys to throw the ball well.

Middle Relief

The Brewers middle inning relief was excellent during the first week. Carlos Torres, Jared Hughes, Corey Knebel, and Jacob Barnes all gave the Milwaukee Brewers some huge innings.

Hughes, Barnes, and Knebel have yet to give up an earned run, while Torres has only given up one earned over 6+ innings. Hughes and Torres also pitched multiple innings in the extra-inning affair Friday against the Cubs, while Barnes pitched one, and came up with a huge double play.

All four of these guys figure to be workhorses in the 6th, 7th, and 8th this year, so it’s key that they continue to pitch this well as the year goes on.

Milwaukee Brewers – The Bad

Middle Infield

Orlando Arcia, Jonathan Villar, and Hernan Perez were not good during the first week of action. Perez is the normal utility man, but he spelled Arcia at short as the week went on.

Villar batted to a line of .167/.194/.400 with 15 strikeouts in 30 at-bats, and Perez slashed .095/.136/.143 for the week. That’s not what you want out of your combination up the middle.

Arica didn’t do much better, as he slashed .200/.250/.333 last week.

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This lack of production up the middle is very troubling for Milwaukee. Sure, we’re only a week in, but these guys are struggling and are starting to press. There’s plenty of time to turn it around, but if they don’t pick it up don’t expect to see the Milwaukee Brewers win a ton of games this season.

Zach Davies

Zach Davies got lit up in both of his starts last week. In 9+ innings he’s given up 11 earned runs. That is not a misprint.

Out of all the guys struggling on the Brewers, fans should be least concerned about Davies’ struggles. He got hit hard last year in his first couple starts before he locked down.

Davies is a control pitcher, and he doesn’t throw very hard. According to Fangraphs, his fastball averages only about 89MPH. When Davies’ offspeed pitches aren’t hitting their spots the other teams are taking batting practice. Davies offspeed pitches have been missing, but once he finds control, he should be back to normal.

Milwaukee Brewers – The Ugly

Defense

The Brewers defense is atrocious. There’s no better word for how bad it has been. They already have six errors on the season, and only six is generous.

There have been countless other miscues that weren’t technically considered errors. Villar dropping a double play turn, missing signs on throws, and not covering second base on a routine play are a few that come to mind right away.

As a team, the Milwaukee Brewers led the league in errors last season, and it looks like they could be up there again this season. Look, players are going to make errors. It’s just a part of the game, but the Brewers keep making errors and don’t look improved at all from last season on defense.

They don’t have the talent the Cubs or Cardinals do, so they can’t be giving teams extra outs.

Keon Broxton

Keon Broxton is 1-11 to start the year, and that’s one of the reasons why he lands on the ugly list. The other reason is that he took a fastball to the dome last week.

With a small nasal fracture, two black eyes, and a bad batting average, it was just a plain ugly week for Broxton. Thankfully, he was wearing a protective helmet, and the helmet took most of the impact.

Broxton has had some terrible luck in his time with the Milwaukee Brewers. Up and down from the minors, and then a broken wrist to end his 2016 season just when he was getting hot. Hopefully, he can turn it around and return to his late 2016 form.

Strikeouts

The Milwaukee Brewers have struck out 15 more times than anyone else in Major League Baseball. The Brewers led MLB in strikeouts last season. Not much has changed with this team.

They are striking out a whopping 33% of their at bats. That number is astronomical compared to where it should be. It’s painful watching the Brewer’s batters sometimes.

They don’t have a great plate discipline and are often diving out over the plate trying to hit some garbage. The Crew needs to be more aggressive earlier in the count and maybe take that first pitch strike more often. Putting the ball in play is always better than a strikeout.

Let’s hope for a better week 2 of baseball for the Milwaukee Brewers. On to Toronto!