Milwaukee Brewers: Keston Hiura should replace Hernan Perez on roster

With the focus of the Milwaukee Brewers struggles on Travis Shaw and Jesus Aguilar, it should be Hernan Perez that is left off of the roster to make room for Keston Hiura.

As it currently stands, the Milwaukee Brewers are sitting in second place in the NL Central, just one game behind the Chicago Cubs. However, for a team with lofty expectations entering the season, they are not on the same pace nor look as dominant as they did at this point in 2018.

Recently we have seen the starting rotation struggle, but overall, key bats such as Travis Shaw’s and Jesus Aguilar’s have really had their issues at the plate.

As a result, we saw top prospect Keston Hiura get called up around mid-May and as expected, he did quite well. In 69 plate appearances over 17 games, Hiura would post a slash line of .281/.333/.531. But to the disappointment of fans, he was ultimately sent back to Triple-A as the Milwaukee Brewers hoped that Shaw and Aguilar would eventually figure it out.

However, Shaw still can’t find any sort of consistency and even though Aguilar has been better as of late, you have to wonder if it will last based on what we have seen so far this season.

So as the Milwaukee Brewers continue to lose games that they should be winning, fans have been asking two primary questions:

One, when will Hiura be back? And two, in order to make room for Hiura, will it be Shaw or Aguilar left off of the 25-man roster?

While Shaw and Aguilar continue to be the focus of fans, I have to ask, what about Hernan Perez? Who up to this point has had a poor season at the plate as well, which has flown under the radar a bit.

General Manager David Stearns and manager Craig Counsell really covet the versatility that Perez brings to the Milwaukee Brewers defensively as he can play just about any position, including pitcher as we’ve seen a few times.

Yet, of his 322 total innings on defense in 2019, over 71 percent of them have been at second base, which as we all know, is where Hiura plays. While he has played other positions here and there, Perez’ primary job has been to fill in at second base when needed but given his performance at the plate, Hiura provides a much better option for that role, if it’s the Brewers’ intention to keep getting at-bats for Shaw.

Offensively, Perez is likely never going to be the player that is consistently batting above .280, but he has to be better than what he has been in 2019. On the season, Perez has a slash line of .235/.277/.383 and over the last month, it has been particularly bad with an average of .196 and a .516 OPS.

In addition, Perez’ strikeout rate is up five percent from 2019 and his wRC+ – which measures created runs adjusted for ballparks – sits at 69 when the league average is 100.

Even with the overall offensive inconsistencies that the Milwaukee Brewers have had, Counsell continues to maintain that they need Shaw and Aguilar to get going:

While I understand why he feels this way as Shaw had 63 home runs and 187 RBIs over the last two seasons, while Aguilar carried this team during the first half of 2018 and finished with 35 home runs and 108 RBIs, July is quickly approaching and something needs to change. And with Hiura still tearing it up in Triple-A, he could provide this offense with a spark.

However, unlike Shaw and Aguilar, Perez doesn’t have that huge impact from past seasons as they do to warrant this many opportunities to figure it out at the plate. His primary role is to fill in when needed and to pinch-hit, he won’t be the difference between winning and losing a World Series.

So when the Milwaukee Brewers eventually bring Keston Hiura back up, while most are focused on Shaw or Aguilar being removed, it is Perez that should be the odd man out and left off of the 25-man roster in order to make room.