Milwaukee Brewers: 3 Free Agent Third Baseman Targets
By Kenny Jilek
Cheap Option: Josh Harrison
Josh Harrison isn’t exactly the major offensive boost that many people are clamoring for, but he can be the guy to spark a big rally, and he has a solid glove in the hot corner. The two-time All-Star is also is one of the league’s most electrifying baserunners. He’s made a living off of getting out of rundowns, and if there are indeed fans back in the stadium in 2021, he will bring them to their feet multiple times with his extremely aggressive baserunning style.
Another element that Harrison provides above other candidates is versatility. In his MLB career, he has logged at least some time on the field in every position except center field and catcher. Yes, he even pitched. How did he do in this single pitching performance? He got Corey Dickerson to fly out for the last out in the bottom of the 8th inning of a 10-1 game. His one appearance at first base was about as brief, but all the other positions, he has at least 200 innings played, so it’s clear that he’s capable. Defensively, he is easily the best at third, however, as that is the only position where both his zone fielding runs above average and runs saved above average are both positive.
Harrison has a career slash line of .273/.314/.402 for an OPS of .715 and OPS+ that is slightly below average at 94. His low on-base percentage points to lack of discipline at the plate, but in the 2020 shortened season, he posted a career-high walk rate of 6.6 percent, which translated over to a career-best on-base percentage of .352.
He doesn’t hit the ball hard often and has never been a power guy, but one thing he does do that the Milwaukee Brewers desperately missed last season is put the bat on the ball. His 16.8 percent strikeout rate since 2015 is under the league average of 21.8 in that time frame, and he brought it even lower this year at 13.2 percent.
If Harrison can continue to get on base as he did in 2020 or even be close to that number and keep his strikeouts down, he’s a great cheap, serviceable signing. He has also converted 72 percent of his base-stealing attempts, which isn’t the ideal number but is good enough to let him try to swipe a bag once in a while, especially against a catcher with a weaker arm.
Harrison is aging and is currently 33-years-old, but he could have a couple of good seasons still left in him, and he could bring defense, contact hitting, and maybe some fun to a Brewers dugout that seemed a lot less energetic most of the time after being one of the liveliest in the league in 2018 and 2019.