Milwaukee Brewers Keston Hiura Swinging Hot Bat in Spring Training

After a fast start to his big league career in 2019, the Milwaukee Brewers’ Keston Hiura has struggled mightily at the plate over the previous two seasons with a combined slash line of .192/.279/.362, including a whole bunch of strikeouts along the way and several extended stints in the minor leagues.

In search of a solution, as Will Sammon of The Athletic reported, Hiura made some swing adjustments this offseason–most notably reducing his leg kick as the pitch is on its way and eliminating his usual toe tap. The early results for Hiura have been quite promising.

Yes, it is only spring training, but it’s still important that Hiura find success. In 26 plate appearances, Hiura has an impressive slash line of .409/.500/.1.045 with four home runs, two doubles, and a pair of walks–although he has still struck out eight times.

In addition to the adjustments made to his swing, Hiura also credits his early success to his renewed confidence as well as feeling healthier after undergoing minor offseason elbow surgery.

Now, as mentioned already, this is only spring training, and it’s a very small sample size as well. On top of that, we’ve seen Hiura have success in spring training in the past–not to mention that he is facing lesser competition at this stage of the big league season, and even when he does face a legitimate MLB pitcher, that player may be working on something and not necessarily concerned with the end result.

Hopefully, things will be different this time around, but just because we are seeing promising results in spring training doesn’t mean anything has changed. Ultimately, we have to see Hiura perform at the big league level and during extended action in the regular season.

Given Hiura’s play, the expanded rosters in the month of April, and I’m sure the fact that the Milwaukee Brewers want Hiura to regain some of that 2019 form, I imagine he will be on the opening day roster.

The big question is, where does Hiura fit in on this Milwaukee Brewers team with most starting positions accounted for?

Hiura could platoon with the left-handed-hitting Rowdy Tellez at first base — although Tellez’s splits vs. right and left-handed pitching doesn’t vary all that much — or get some at-bats as the designated hitter, which will likely be a role filled by several different players over the course of the season. He could also see some brief action in the outfield as well.

We know the Milwaukee Brewers have the pitching, but the big question mark is their offense and ability to produce runs. If the bats can consistently produce, then this team is going to be very difficult to beat, and a revitalized Keston Hiura can certainly play a part in helping this lineup improve.