PHOTO CREDIT: Milwaukee Brewers
Ben Gamel
Ben Gamel.
When the Brewers acquired Ben Gamel this winter, one of their primary publicly stated reasons for doing so was somewhat unflattering: Gamel (unlike Domingo Santana) had a minor league option remaining, so the Brewers acquired him at least partially based on the understanding that they could send him to the minors if or when he wasn’t able to stick on the MLB roster. Not only have they not needed that option, but Gamel has turned into one of the season’s unsung heroes.
It only takes a brief perusal of the Brewers’ roster to find instances of players who have struggled to reach 2019 expectations: It’s been a rough year at the plate for Lorenzo Cain, Jesus Aguilar and Travis Shaw and on the mound for Jhoulys Chacin and Corbin Burnes, among others. Gamel, however, is one of a few players that have given the Brewers everything they could have reasonably hoped for and perhaps a bit more.
Coming into the spring Gamel didn’t project to net a lot of playing time for the 2019 Brewers: Even as the primary backup at all three outfield positions he seemed unlikely to make the lineup regularly unless defending National League MVP Christian Yelich, near-everyday center fielder Lorenzo Cain or Ryan Braun required extended absences. Gamel has, however, netted more opportunities than might have been expected: He started 46 of the Brewers’ first 91 games (the Brewers went 24-22 in those contests) and already has nearly as many at bats in 2019 (202) as he had in all of 2018 with the Mariners (257).
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Entering the season Gamel’s viability as a fourth outfielder at the MLB level likely depended on his ability to play center field, something he had done in just five games at the MLB level. The Brewers have already played him 17 times out there this season, including eleven starts, and he’s performed capably in that key defensive role. Defensive statistics are notoriously unreliable in small samples, but Ultimate Zone Rating would suggest that Gamel has held his own in 103 innings in center, coming in about two tenths of a run above average.
Offensively, meanwhile, Gamel’s game has remained steady and solid. Before his single at bat on Sunday he was batting .254 with a .338 on-base percentage and .393 slugging on the season, with a .731 on-base plus slugging that was nearly identical to his previous two years in Seattle. His strikeout rate is up a bit at 29.4% of all plate appearances but his walk rate remains steady at about 10% and he has the speed necessary to sustain a high batting average on balls in play (.354).
Traditional thinking would suggest the Brewers should use Gamel, who bats left-handed, primarily against right-handed pitchers, but they’ve also been rewarded when they’ve gone against that trend. Gamel has an .847 OPS in limited opportunities against lefties this season, 146 points above his mark against righties. His career numbers would suggest this isn’t a fluke: He’s posted a career .743 mark against lefties, as opposed to .720 against righties.
It’s worth noting, of course, that the player Gamel was traded for has also paid dividends to his new team: Domingo Santana has shown a good deal of offensive value for the Mariners, collecting 102 hits and 18 home runs in his first 92 games in Seattle. Santana’s value has come exclusively at the plate, however: FanGraphs estimates he’s provided 12.6 runs of value with his bat but cost the team 18.6 with his defense, which has been worse in 2019 than it ever was during his time in Milwaukee. His bat would almost certainly be valuable in the Brewers’ lineup but his lack of defensive flexibility would have once again caused the Brewers to have a hard time finding opportunities for him.
At the end of each season the Milwaukee chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America hands out an “Unsung Hero” award to one member of that year’s Brewers team, and Gamel would seem the odds-on favorite to take that honor home in 2019. His solid, versatile season has been a notable addition to the team, even if it doesn’t always receive immediate recognition.
