Milwaukee Brewers: Keston Hiura Will Make the Move to First Base

At the top of the Milwaukee Brewers’ to-do list this offseason was adding more offense to a lineup that finished last or nearly last in the NL in many major statistical categories in 2020. And with that meant solidifying the corner infield positions.

Well, third base may still be an unknown, but as of Friday, the Milwaukee Brewers have their starting first baseman for the 2020 season, and as David Stearns has done be for, he did so unconventionally.

The Brewers officially signed second baseman and two-time Gold Glove winner Kolten Wong on Friday. Wong is an instant upgrade defensively at second base over Keston Hiura, who has struggled to make throws with 32 errors in 130 games and is a well-below average defender by Baseball Savant’s Outs Above Average metric. In 2019, he ranked last among second basemen by this metric and 39th a year ago.

So to make room for Wong, who, as indicated above by his two Gold Gloves, is an excellent defender, while offensively he doesn’t strike out much and has a high on-base percentage — two things this Brewer lineup desperately needs — Hiura will make the move to first base.

"“Yes, Keston’s primary activity this year will be at first base,” Stearns said via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He’s up for this challenge. Both (manager) Craig (Counsell) and I have spoken to him. We believe he can do this. We believe he can be a very skilled first baseman with his skill set and he’s ready to do what he can.”"

Hiura doesn’t have any experience playing first base, or at least not since college, but as we’ve seen in the past, Stearns is willing to shake things up defensively if it will help the Milwaukee offense. In 2018 when the Brewers acquired Mike Moustakas via trade, they moved Travis Shaw to second base, a position that he was also very unfamiliar with.

But while there are going to be question marks around Hiura’s defensive ability at first, the Milwaukee Brewers’ middle infield defense just got a heck of a lot better:

"“It really changes the composition defensively of our entire team, and that’s something that we also think is important,” said Stearns. “I know a lot of attention has been, understandably, placed on the offensive side of the ball, but one constant around some of the better teams in baseball is really solid, consistent defense. When we’ve had our most successful seasons here, we’ve had very good defensive teams and that’s something that is a focus of ours.”"

As for Hiura, in addition to the move from second to first, he will look to bounce back from a down 2020 season — although it was an odd year so take it as you will — and limit the number of strikeouts.

After recording a .303 average and .938 OPS in 2019, Hiura hit just .212 a season ago with a .707 OPS, a below-average OPS+ of 88, and he led the league in strikeouts with 85. Over his short career, Hiura’s strikeout rate sits at a whopping 32.3 percent, according to Fangraphs.

But as I just alluded to, it was an odd season with many of the game’s best hitters struggling at the plate.

If the Milwaukee Brewers are going to contend for a playoff spot and hopefully more than that, they’ll need a bounce-back year from Hiura offensively. And of course, when it comes to learning a new position on defense, there is going to be a learning curve, but Hiura is certainly up for it:

"“They have really high hopes for me; they’re excited for me to be over there,” Hiura said via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “They know I can handle it pretty well. And I’m excited to learn it.”"