Milwaukee Brewers: Ben Gamel will play a big role in 2019

Outfielder Ben Gamel who was acquired by the Milwaukee Brewers this offseason will play a big role for the team this season.

As part of a trade package put together back in December, the Milwaukee Brewers would trade away outfielder and pinch-hit extraordinaire Domingo Santana to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Ben Gamel and right-handed pitcher, Noah Zavolas.

In his three-year big league career that began with Toronto in 2016, featured a brief stint with the New York Yankees, and ended with the Mariners, Gamel has posted a career slash line of .269/.331/.392 in exactly 900 plate appearances. A majority of his playing time has come over the last two seasons where he appeared in 134 games for the Mariners in 2017 as a primary corner outfielder but missed some time last season with an oblique strain while appearing in 101 games.

While stats are not the be all, end all when it comes to Spring Training, they can give us some insight into how the player is feeling early on in the season. During Cactus League play, Gamel took 51 at-bats and recorded a slash line of .255/.333/.471 with three home runs and 11 RBIs. His performance during the spring was enough to earn him a spot on the 25-man roster for Opening Day.

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Gamel has the potential to add a lot to this Milwaukee Brewers team, both offensively and defensively as highlighted by general manager, David Stearns:

"“He (Gamel) has proven he can hit at the major-league level. We like the left-handed bat in our ballpark and our division. He has some positional versatility in the outfield, which we value.”"

Of course, Gamel is ecstatic to be apart of the 25-man roster and is ready to come off of the bench to help however he can:

"“Wherever I fit in, whatever I can do to help.”"

As the fourth outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers, Gamel will have plenty of opportunities to make an impact this season. 2018 was a fairly healthy season for Ryan Braun, but he still requires plenty of rest throughout the season as he appeared in 125 games last year, which is probably his ceiling.

Also, Lorenzo Cain will be 33-years-old this season and the Milwaukee Brewers may not have him out there for 140 plus games for a second consecutive season, which once again, will lead to more playing time for Gamel.

For much of last season, the Milwaukee Brewers fourth outfielder role was filled by either Domingo Santana or Keon Broxton and the duo totaled 324 plate appearances, but both have since been traded. While Eric Thames is an option in the outfield, he can’t be relied on defensively, so I imagine a majority of those at-bats will go to Gamel in 2019.

As some insurance for the Brewers, Gamel still has one minor league option available, which will give Milwaukee some flexibility if he struggles for an extended period of time. However, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Next. Predictions for Brewers 2019 season. dark

If the Milwaukee Brewers hope to make another push towards the World Series, they will need Gamel to be a consistent contributor when given his opportunities to start or to pinch-hit. Over the past two seasons, he has shown that he can produce and at 26-years-old, there is still untapped potential that can really help out this Milwaukee ball club.

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