Photo Credit: Scott Paulus
The Brewers have a lot to play for as a group over the last few weeks of the major league season. They’re still hanging around the fringes of the National League’s postseason race and could qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive year for the first time in franchise history.
Beyond their aspirations as a team, however, there are also several Brewers who have much more on the line. These last few weeks represent one last chance for several Brewers to make a statement about their ability to perform at the major league level going forward. For some of these players, the opportunity came as something of a surprise:
Orlando Arcia
Back in February the Brewers’ incumbent shortstop reported to spring training facing some uncertainty for the first time in a long time. The Brewers had penciled his name into the lineup over 400 times in the previous three seasons but went out over the winter and acquired another option at his position, trading for Luis Urias after Arcia posted dismal offensive numbers in 2019.
Arcia got a bit of a head start on his new competitor for playing time, however, when Urias was limited this spring due to injury and was unable to make the Opening Day roster due to COVID-19. In what might have been his last chance as a Brewer Arcia capitalized on the playing time, appearing in 38 of the Brewers’ first 39 games. He's sacrificed a little power, but the Brewers have benefitted from his improved plate discipline and even moved him up to the #5 spot in the lineup on Sunday.
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In the meantime, though, Urias has finally reached the majors and looks like someone that will play most days for a long time. Arcia’s performance these last few weeks might go a long way to determine whether Urias plays alongside Arcia or in place of him in 2021 and beyond.
Jacob Nottingham
It didn’t appear likely that the Brewers would have much playing time for their longtime top catching prospect this season, with Omar Narvaez joining the team as one of the Brewers’ top offseason acquisitions and Manny Pina having demonstrated the ability to contribute in limited opportunities behind him.
That all changed, of course, when Pina went down due to injury and Narvaez’s season-long offensive struggles made him an unlikely candidate to absorb all of that playing time. The Brewers penciled Nottingham into the lineup five times in his first eight days back in the majors. It’s the latest chapter in a long road for Nottingham, a one-time top prospect who has waited a long time for an opportunity.
This winter the Brewers are going to have several decisions to make at catcher. They’ll need to decide if they want to bet on Narvaez to bounce back from his poor offensive showing, if Manny Pina can handle the workload of a regular catcher in his mid 30s, or if they want to try looking outside the organization for help once again. If Nottingham has a solid month of September it might color all of those conversations.
Tyrone Taylor
Taylor’s road to big league playing time might have taken even more twists and turns than Nottingham’s: At one time he was the organization's top prospect, but he was nearly 26 years old and in his eighth professional season when he got the call to the majors for the first time last September.
Taylor acquitted himself well in 15 stretch run appearances in 2019 but still seemed like a long shot to make a major league impact in 2020: He was almost certainly behind Lorenzo Cain, Christian Yelich, Ryan Braun, Avisail Garcia and Ben Gamel on the depth chart in spring training, and even when spots on the roster started to open up he had to climb over players like longtime major leaguer Keon Broxton and top prospect Corey Ray on the depth chart to earn his way onto the big club.
Until Sunday Taylor had never started a game in the majors, and after this season it's unclear where or if he’ll find opportunities to play regularly again: All the players mentioned above could find themselves ahead of him on depth charts again in 2021. This September Taylor has an opportunity to prove he’s a big-league caliber player, however, either for the Brewers or another team that might be interested in his services this winter.
Of course, all three of these players had their hands full on Sunday as they faced Shane Bieber, one of the American League's best pitchers. This likely won't be their last chance to demonstrate they can perform against MLB pitching, however, and the results may go a long way to determine the trajectories of their careers going forward.
To read more Brewers On Deck Circle columns by Kyle Lobner, click here.
