Image via Twitter / Brewers
The Brewers came into the winter with what appeared to be relatively clear needs on their major league roster: While they had established regulars at all three outfield spots and in the middle infield, they appeared poised to upgrade at first and third base. Their decision to sign former Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong directly solves neither of those questions but perhaps, given the Brewers’ history under David Stearns, that shouldn’t be a surprise.
Wong was available relatively inexpensively, signing with the Brewers for just two years and $18 million. He was available at least in part because he’s coming off a down year offensively in St. Louis, where he slugged just .326 with one home run in 53 games in 2020. The Cardinals declined his $12.5 million club option for this season, making him a free agent. Wong, however, is a clear upgrade for the Brewers’ middle infield defense. He’s the National League’s two-time reigning Gold Glove Award winner at second base, where FanGraphs estimates he’s been worth almost 27 runs and Statcast credits him with getting 21 outs above average since the start of the 2018 season. With the Brewers he’ll replace incumbent second baseman Keston Hiura, and the same metrics have him at -11.5 runs and -11 outs above average since his MLB debut in 2019, respectively.
Hiura’s defense has long been a question mark at second base: He was an outfielder in college, but spent all of his final season at UC-Irvine and most of his first professional campaign as a designated hitter while recovering from an elbow injury. While Hiura’s bat dictated a fast track to the majors, he had played just 128 games in his career at second base at the time of his callup and his defensive performance at the big league level has been erratic at best. The Brewers’ return on investment from the Wong signing likely depends on Hiura’s ability to adjust to a new position, first base, which he’s never played before at any level.
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This is not the first time, however, that the Brewers have acquired value and worried about the defensive fit later. In 2018 they did it with the season on the line. The Brewers were set at both defensive corners with Travis Shaw and Jesus Aguilar that season when Stearns and company saw an opportunity to add an impact bat at the trade deadline, acquiring Mike Moustakas from the Royals. At the time of the trade Moustakas had never been anything but a third baseman at the MLB level, and Shaw had nearly exclusively played that position during his time as a Brewer.
One day after Moustakas joined the Brewers, however, Shaw made his first MLB start at second base. He played there regularly down the stretch and held his own, and his defensive flexibility made the Brewers a much better team as they chased down the Cubs in the NL Central. Shaw looked a bit unusual at second base, as he’s one of the tallest players to appear at the position in MLB history, but he got the job done while learning a new position on the fly.
While Shaw was one of the tallest to play his new position, Hiura will have the opposite problem: Of the 25 major leaguers to play at least 30 games at first base in 2020, 24 were taller than Hiura’s listed height of 6’0” and the only exception was Brewers teammate Jedd Gyorko. Height is a prized trait for a first baseman, as a taller player will be able to reach further off the base to corral the ball. The last first baseman under 6’1” to make an All Star team was John Kruk of the Phillies, who did it in 1993.
Hiura will have one advantage Shaw didn’t have: He’ll get a full spring training to work on adjusting to a new position before playing there in regular season games. Nonetheless, the Brewers have put him in a tough spot and their success in 2021 might depend on his ability to adjust to it.
