This Week in Brewers Baseball: Week Two - Trends Continue
Week two of the MLB season was a bit uglier for the Milwaukee Brewers, though they were able to salvage a couple games from 2 of the top teams in the National League. As always, there were some positives to go along with some of the disappointing aspects of the club.
Series Recaps
Lost 2 of 3 games on the road to the St. Louis Cardinals (L-W-L)
Lost 2 of 3 games on the road to the Pittsburgh Pirates (W-L-L)
This week's record: 2-4 (5-7 overall)
Three Up, Three Down
Chris Carter
The big first baseman has been quietly consistent so far this season, and last week he was a strong contributor to the Crew's offense. Though he only hit 1 HR in the last 7 days, he has shown patience at the dish and has been driving the ball with authority. He was even robbed of hits a couple of times.
Last week, Carter added a pair of doubles, 3 walks, 3 RBI and 3 runs scored. His solid week upped his overall numbers to a .364 OBP and a .622 slugging percentage (9th in the NL), good for a .985 OPS, best on the Brewers and top 10 in the league.
Jeremy Jeffress
The Brewers' 28-year-old closer continues to shut down the opposition, finishing off a pair of games with 2 scoreless innings and a save. He struck out a couple without allowing a walk, giving up 3 ground balls and 2 fly balls.
Jeffress is now a perfect 4-for-4 in save opportunities and hasn't allowed a single run in his first 6 appearances this season. His 5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio is extremely encouraging as well, displaying electric stuff and high-quality command thus far.
Domingo Santana
While hitting leadoff for the first time in his career this season, Santana has given the Brewers tons of great at-bats and excellent overall production. Santana posted a .370 OBP and an .849 OPS last week, starting all 6 games in St. Louis and Pittsburgh.
Santana's big highlight was his 9th inning, 2-out, 2-run home run to right-center field to beat the Cardinals Wednesday night. On top of the HR, Santana had 2 doubles, 3 RBI and 4 walks during the week, now leading the team in hits (12) and tied in two-baggers (4).
Aaron Hill No one expected Hill to light up the box score, but they certainly thought he'd contribute a bit more. Hill hit .188 last week - sadly an improvement on his .167 average for the season. He failed to drive in a run or add an extra-base hit while playing in all 6 contests (5 starts).
For the season, Hill owns a .231 OBP and a sad .397 OPS in 40 plate appearances. Despite starting all but 1 game this year, he has yet to score a run and currently has a -0.3 WAR on the season.
Keon Broxton
The Brewers gave Broxton every chance to find his swing last week with 3 starts, but he did next-to-nothing and was eventually sent down to the minors to open a spot for starter Zach Davies. Broxton went 0-for-9 with 7 strikeouts and a walk last week.
Coming out of spring, it looked like the right move to keep Broxton up as a right-handed complement to the other center fielders who hit from the left side. Unfortunately, Broxton has looked overmatched in starting the year 0-for-16 with 11 punch outs and just a pair of walks.
Taylor Jungmann
Coming off a solid 1st start this season, Jungmann's 2nd time on the hill was a disaster and got the Brewers off on the wrong foot to start the week. He gave up 8 runs on 8 hits in just 2 frames as St. Louis destroyed Milwaukee 10-1 in the Cards' home opener Monday.
Jungmann gave up 5 doubles and a pair of triples against the Cardinals in picking up his 1st loss. On Saturday, Jungmann fanned 6 Pirates in 6 innings, but still allowed 4 earned runs on 6 hits, including a home run, a triple and a double. He's 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA and 1.615 WHIP this year.
Browsing the Box Scores
1) After 2 weeks, starter Chase Anderson still owned a 0.00 ERA and a WHIP under 1.00. He shut out the Houston Astros in 5 innings in his 1st start (5 K, 0 BB) and gave up 0 earned runs (3 unearned) in 6 frames as a he settled for a no decision against the Cardinals.
2) Ryan Braun hit a pair of absolute bombs Friday to lead the Brewers to an 8-4 win over Pittsburgh. In 135 games against the Pirates (83% of a full season), Braun has 29 HR, 32 doubles, 107 runs, 105 RBI and a .940 OPS. He even has 35 stolen bases in 39 chances versus Pittsburgh.
3) Brewers' batters have the highest strikeout percentage in the NL (3rd in MLB), whiffing in 26.3% of their plate appearances. Among Brewers with 20+ plate appearances, Carter has the highest K% at 31.8% - which hasn't affected his overall production with his team-leading OPS.
Looking Ahead...
Milwaukee plays their home-and-home interleague series with the Minnesota Twins, playing a pair at Target Field to start the week, then back at Miller Park Wednesday and Thursday. The Brewers were 4-2 against Minnesota last season.
Then the Crew hosts the Philadelphia Phillies, one of the clubs expected to have a 90-loss season or worse. However, they're 6-7 so far and watched starter Vince Velasquez strike out 16 hitters without a walk in tossing a complete game shutout against the San Diego Padres last week. He could pitch Sunday in Milwaukee.
Outs Extremely Hard to Come by...
The Brewers' pitching staff is allowing the highest batting average (.294), OBP (.363), slugging percentage (.532) and OPS (.895) in Major League Baseball this season. It says a lot when you're worse than the Colorado Rockies who play at Coors and all AL teams who use the DH.