June 25: Vogelbach will be out for “at least” six weeks, manager Craig Counsell announced to reporters Friday (Twitter link via Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). The manager added that lefty Brett Anderson is expected to miss 10 to 14 days with the bone bruise in his knee that recently landed him on the IL.
June 23: The Brewers announced Wednesday that they’ve placed first baseman Daniel Vogelbach on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain and recalled infielder Keston Hiura from Triple-A Nashville.
It’s not yet clear how long Vogelbach will be expected to miss, although manager Craig Counsell foreshadowed an absence of some note last night when calling it a “significant” strain and noting that Vogelbach would require an MRI (video link via Bally Sports Wisconsin). GM Matt Arnold tells reporters that the team is evaluating not only Vogelbach’s hamstring but also his left knee (Twitter link via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com).
Vogelbach sustained the injury on one of the more bizarre plays you’ll see this season. The slugger came up lame as he rounded third base but somehow managed to limp home to score anyway when the D-backs inexplicably failed to throw to the plate on a play where Vogelbach should’ve been out by some 30 to 40 feet.
While Vogelbach’s overall .216/.323/.386 slash isn’t particularly impressive, he’s been much better of late, swatting four homers and four doubles with an .816 OPS since the calendar flipped to June. Beyond that, Milwaukee first baseman have persistently struggled in 2021, so getting any production from the position in recent weeks has been a nice change of pace.
Hiura, who returns for a third stint with the Brewers this season, has played no small part in the team’s collective struggles at first base. The former first-round pick and top prospect slid over to first when Milwuakee inked Kolten Wong to a two-year deal this winter, but the offensive form that made him such a sensation as a rookie in 2019 has been nowhere to be seen. Hiura always seemed primed for some degree of regression, as his 2019 breakout was buoyed by a .402 average on balls in play, but few could’ve predicted struggles of this magnitude.
So far in 122 plate appearances, the 24-year-old has mustered only a .130/.217/.222 slash. His luck on balls in play has swung completely in the opposite direction of 2019, as he’s been plagued by a .220 BABIP in that small sample. However, Hiura’s anemic stat line is far from a matter of a poor fortune. He punched out at a 30.7 percent clip during his rookie campaign but has seen that number skyrocket to 39.3 percent so far in 2021, and his rate of hard-hit balls has dropped by nine percent as well. It’s perhaps encouraging that Hiura has maintained a 23.3 percent line-drive rate, but he’s hitting far more lazy flies than he did at his best — and the huge uptick in strikeouts is obviously glaring.
Hiura absolutely destroyed Triple-A pitching when he was first sent down to the minors this year, hitting at a .438/.526/.906 clip with three home runs and six doubles in 38 plate appearances. But he also punched out 13 times, and when he returned to the Majors on the heels of that strong Nashville showing, he looked more lost than ever. From May 24 through June 6, Hiura went 2-for-29 and struck out in 16 of 33 plate appearances. The Brewers demoted him back to Nashville.
Hiura has punished Triple-A pitchers in similar fashion since being sent back to Nashville a second time this year, albeit with one key difference. His .375/.490/.575 slash in his latest 11-game stint is nearly as impressive as his first Triple-A run, but this time around he’s showing considerably more discipline. Hiura has drawn nine walks in 51 plate appearances and struck out as many times in 51 plate appearances as he did in 38 plate appearances during his first minor league run this year (13).
It’s obviously a tiny sample from which to glean much, but the dip from a 34 percent strikeout rate to a 25 percent clip is encouraging, as is the increase from a 10.5 percent walk rate to a 17.6 percent mark. At the very least, it would seem to indicate that Hiura has made conscious strides to work on his plate discipline.
He’ll now have a chance to carry that potential change in approach over to the big league level. With Vogelbach on the shelf, Hiura ought to receive the bulk of the playing time at first base, securing one final audition before the Brewers make tougher calls with the trade deadline on the horizon. Ideally, a version of Hiura at least approximating his 2019 output would take the reins at first base and run with the job. But with Milwaukee first baseman combining for just a .197/.295/.343 batting line so far in 2021, it stands to reason that the Brew Crew will look outside the organization if Hiura can’t pick up the slack in his third go-around of the season with the MLB club.
Here we go again….hope Keston has the bugs worked out and can produce….need his bat back.
first
Sadly, you were not first, and that makes you a complete loser. You’ve disappointed your family and future generations of Jamesian’s greatly, and may God now have mercy on your worthless soul.
That was one of the finest, most well-written, come backs I’ve ever seen on here. BIG smile. 🙂
I appreciate you taking it like a champ. The complete loser thing was a bit much, but hey, if you’re not first, you’re last. As far as disappointing your family though, I meant that. They’ll quietly eat dinner in shame tonight, and probably pass on dessert. Not a desert kinda night at the Jamesian crib.
More LOL!
Dude, I saw the other post when I posted “first”. I though it might elicit something that would amuse me, and you did not fail me in that.
There is no God.
That may be true, but he also may be very real, and he could be watching you curse his name on chat boards, nodding his head like, “Alright then player. We’ll see about how real I am later” (sinister laugh)
If you hate other peoples comments so much, perhaps stop reading the comments section…just a thought…
Smoak? Is he free or still under contract?
He is making $7 million in Japan with Yomiuri Giants
He returned to be with his family.
Are the Dbacks betting against themselves? How do you not throw out someone limping home?
I think the other teams in baseball should vote to let the Dbacks pitchers use whatever they want on the ball. Snot? Vagisil? Spidertack? Jalapeño juice? Sheeeeeit. They could use all that stuff just to make them competitive.
yeah how did that cutoff man not throw that home, it looked like he saw him running home and just let him score.
In fairness, it looked like Vogs was headed to the dugout, with as wide a turn he took. It looked like he was way out on the grass, halfway to the dugout. I would’ve thought he’d be called out for being way out of the baseline.
You can go as far outside the baseline as you want between 3rd and home as long as it isn’t to avoid a tag.
Keston Hiura for Isan Diaz.
Who says “no,” the Brewers or the Marlins?
Diaz plays second, not first. Brewers already dumped Diaz on the Marlins in the Yelich trade.
I don’t think Stearns gets the chance to say no due to laughing so hard.
I hope that Hiura doesn’t turn out to be a quadruple A player
If the Rockies’ FO is even capable of making trades, MIL should target CJ Cron next month. Just a rental, but that’s all they need, and the cost in talent should be minimal. Even Greg Bird, who COL has stashed in Albuquerque, would be an improvement.
Exactly right. I’ve been thinking Cron all along. Cheap. Perfect fit in the middle of the lineup.
A++ photo choice
I think Hiura hits better now since MLB banned the foreign substances, dude cant hit MLB breaking balls
He can’t hit a fastball either. Only Chris Davis in 2009 had a lower contact % on pitches in the zone or over the heart than he has right now. League swing and miss rate on fastballs “over the heart” is about 16%, Keston’s pushing 40%.
I’ve seen him swing through countless numbers of fastballs directly down the middle of the plate. Or at the top of the zone. Or at the bottom of the zone. Personally the ONLY explanation that makes any sense to me is that the guy has lost his eyesight and is bling as a bat, but that doesn’t explain his AAA production. Something is clearly seriously wrong in this guys head, however. Its way past time for the Brewers to make some moves to improve the situation, because Huira is clearly not the answer. Don’t forget he was HORRIBLE last year, too.
“The definition of insanity is repeating the same mistakes over and over again and expecting different results,”- Pretty much defines the Brewers player moves since this season.
Hey Couns, get JBJ out of the 8th spot in the order!! To begin with, he never should have been in that spot of the lineup.
The other thing that DRIVES ME NUTS about Counsell is his inexplicable fascination with sitting a player the day after he breaks out of a slump or has a huge game. It’s downright maddening. I’ve been watching baseball for over 40 years and have NEVER seen a manager do anything remotely close to this. It’s absolutely insane. In fact, it’s just plain out stupid. I’ll never understand the “Craig Counsell is such a great manager” thing. In my opinion, that’s way off base.
And anyone ever count the number of times he says “um” during any type of interview? Did this guy to high school English class?
Keston Hiura is the only position player that came up through the MIL system. They have one position player at A (Joe Gray), one starting pitcher at AAA (Francis Bowden) and several relievers throughout their MILB system who might be MLB caliber players.
MIL is the one team that must trade to upgrade.
Uhm Taylor. Yes they have been better at developing pitching of late. Years before it was mostly position players with the likes of Braun, Fielder, Weeks, Lucroy and Hardy. They have had misses and have been drafting later, but I think they have a few now that look very good. Just have to be a little patient.
How does Vogelbach strain a hammy?? That would be a freak injury for him!
Try and get schoop from detroit. He has been playing 1b.
LOL
Anderson=the human injury. Man up already dude, you are always hurt.
I think Vogelbach has a chance to be better than Rizzo. All he needs to do is practice a bunch more push-aways…..push-aways from the table.