Milwaukee Brewers Add Positional Versatility with Brock Holt
By Paul Bretl
![BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 29: Brock Holt #12 of the Boston Red Sox reacts after hitting a single during the eighth inning of a game against the Baltimore Orioles on September 29, 2019 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 29: Brock Holt #12 of the Boston Red Sox reacts after hitting a single during the eighth inning of a game against the Baltimore Orioles on September 29, 2019 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/a1350eb881dbda89edb87a94084211d692d8e19eb34f82bf32ea7513443711b8.jpg)
The Milwaukee Brewers make another free agent addition, this time with the super versatile Brock Holt.
I hope that nobody out there thought that just because Spring Training had started that David Stearns and the Milwaukee Brewers were done making moves. As we’ve seen in the past, Stearns is always looking to tweak this roster and he does so once again, this time by signing free agent Brock Holt.
Free-agent infielder Brock Holt in agreement with #Brewers, pending physical, source tells The Athletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 18, 2020
2020 will be Holt’s ninth big league season after spending the last seven with the Boston Red Sox. For his career he has a slash line of .271/.340/.374 with 23 home runs and a wRC+ of 93. However, his most recent season in 2019 was perhaps his best. In 87 games, Holt would record a .297 batting average in 295 plate appearances with a .771 OPS and wRC+ of 103.
Holt is a very Stearns-esque signing. Although he doesn’t have much power, over his career he has shown that he can wield a decent bat, draws a fair amount of walks, doesn’t strikeout a ton, and he is a very versatile defender. And I mean, versatile.
During his career, Holt has over 1,700 innings at second base, nearly 1,400 in the outfield, another 932 at third base, 398 at shortstop, and 200 as a first baseman. This positional versatility is going to give manager Craig Counsell even more flexibility when it comes to setting his lineup with what was an already a deep team, especially in the infield.
With the way this Brewers team is constructed, Counsell will really be able to pick and choose his lineups in order to try to take advantage of as many matchups as possible. And the addition of Holt only helps them in this area.
Next. 4 Major Question Marks for 2020. dark
At this time no specifics have been released about the terms of the contract between the two parties, but the Milwaukee Brewers landed one of the best free agents still available at this point. The super-utility man Brock Holt should fit quite well with this team.