Milwaukee Brewers trade for Jonathan Schoop, add more pop to a stacked offense

The Milwaukee Brewers acquire Jonathan Schoop from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Jonathan Villar and two prospects.

At the final minutes of the trade deadline, the Milwaukee Brewers did the unexpected and acquired infielder Jonathan Schoop. There were rumors swirling that the Crew was interested, but it seemed unrealistic after acquiring Mike Moustakas. This move comes after the Gausman getting traded to the Atlanta Braves and Archer getting traded to the division rival Pittsburgh Pirates.

asis came at a surprise to all fans with rumors going around everywhere about interest in starting pitchers (Archer, Gausman, Harvey, etc.). This move adds even more depth in the infield and a lot of power throughout the lineup. This will create a long jam, but it creates a lot of offense coming off the bench.

THE RETURN
The Brewers traded away three players in the deal. The most familiar name is switch hitting infielder Jonathan Villar. Stearns acquired Villar in 2015 and put up a good first season. But since then, he has faltered the past couple of years and hasn’t shown the star power. This season he batted .261 and held an OPS of .693. Right now he’s rehabbing a thumb injury, he’ll fill the void at second base or shortstop for the Orioles for the rest of the season and will give them a good hitter with speed.

The second player was top pitching prospect Luis Ortiz. He ranked 7th among Brewers prospects in the midseason rankings and represented the Brewers in the futures game. The Brewers acquired Ortiz in the Jonathan Lucroy deal and now the Brewers don’t have anyone from the 2016 trade. He has been in Double A-Biloxi for the whole season and showed a lot of potential to be a good starter in the big leagues. His fastball sits in the low-mid nineties and will most likely be a starter for Baltimore in the next year or two.

The last part of the deal was Jean Carmona. Carmona is a switch hitting shortstop that ranked 14th among the Brewers prospects. He had shown average hitting in Rookie-Helena, but is seen as an above average defender. With his 60 grade arm(20-80) and 55 grade fielding, we could possibly see him in the majors with the O’s in three to four years.

THE NEW PLAYER
What did the Brewers get? Jonathan Schoop is a player that will bring a lot of pop into the lineup. He has gone through in rough year batting .244. But just last year, he hit .293 with 32 HR in 160 games. And shades of 2017 Schoop have showing up lately as he’s batting .360 in the month of July and has earned player of the week along with Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich.

Schoop brings a lot of pop, but also creates a log jam in the infield. With the acquisition of Moustakas, Travis Shaw was forced to move to second base.  Now that the Brewers traded for a second basemen, this creates two options. Option 1: Move Schoop to short and have Arcia sit. Or Option 2: Every game, someone has to sit. One day Moose is out, one day Shaw is out and one day Schoop is out. We’ll find out in the next couple days.

The big question going around is “why”. Why did the Brewers trade for another infielder? But this brings a great hitter in the lineup not only this year, but next year. And this will most likely fill the second base position until top prospect Keston Hiura gets called up to the majors.

These next few years are going to be pretty entertaining watching him hit at hitter friendly Miller Park.  Overall, Brewers fans should be excited to see Jonathan Schoop in the Brewers lineup and will hopefully help them make that playoff push.