During the sprint that will be a 60-game 2020 MLB season, here are the three best DH options for the Milwaukee Brewers.
The MLB and MLBPA have finally reached a resolution on a 2020 season, with teams reporting to training July 1 and games to start on July 23 or 24. The Milwaukee Brewers earned a Wild Card spot last year, losing to the eventual champion Washington Nationals, and they will be looking to make it three postseason appearances in a row this year.
There will be some different rules in this truncated MLB season. The most notable, and most likely to stick beyond this season, is the universal DH. National League teams won’t have to essentially surrender an out when a pitcher has to hit, even if detractors like Mark McGwire lament the removal of some game strategy with the use of the DH in both leagues.
The Brewers were third in the National League in home runs last year (250), so having a full lineup of guys who are paid to hit seems sure to benefit them.
On that front, here are the three best DH options manager Craig Counsell can deploy this season.
3. Logan Morrison
Morrison spent 2019 in the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies organizations, with little time in the 29 games and 38 plate appearances in big leagues for the Phillies. He landed with the Brewers on a minor league deal this offseason, and he was hitting well enough in spring training (.300 with three home runs and seven RBI over 33 plate appearances) to put himself in the mix for a roster spot.
Morrison is one of the options to see time at first base, but his value is driven by his bat. He hit 38 home runs for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2017, and even in a down year with the Minnesota Twins in 2018 he hit 15 home runs in 95 games.
As a left-handed hitter, Morrison has far more plate appearances against right-handers in his career. But his batting average, slugging percentage and OPS splits are not that dramatic, and his .298 career BABIP against lefties is basically league average.
Assuming he sticks, Morrison will split time between DH and first base for Brewers. But if he can get on a hot streak, like he did in May and June of 2017 (.958 OPS with 17 home runs over 225 total plate appearances-53 games), Milwaukee will have a nice secondary source of power in a short season.
2. Jedd Gyorko
The last couple seasons haven’t been great for Gyorko. But in 2017 with the St. Louis Cardinals, and when he was healthy, he posted a solid slash-line (.272/.341/.472) with 20 home runs, 21 doubles and 67 RBI. In 2016 with the Cardinals, he hit 30 home runs.
Gyorko can play multiple positions. But that doesn’t mean he plays any of them particularly well, and any significant value he brings is at the plate. He’s in line to see most of his time at third base for the Brewers this year, likely in a fairly strict platoon with Eric Sogard. On the days he doesn’t play third, or somewhere else as a very occasional fill-in, DH could be the spot for him to get some at-bats.
Gyorko seems to have plenty of pop left in his bat, with a career-high 42.6 percent hard hit rate (according to FanGraphs) last year in his injury-shortened time. A closer look at his batted ball data shows a major spike in infield fly balls last year (18.5 percent), which can be attributed to the back, wrist and calf issues that bothered him. At last check, a healthy back, two healthy legs and two fully functioning wrists are pretty important to hitting.
The Brewers have to find value in the margins, and a healthy Gyorko is a lefty crusher who can provide position utility even if defense is not his calling card. The universal DH is the friend of someone like Gyorko, in 2020 and going forward.
1. Ryan Braun
In an effort to keep him healthy, the Brewers have given Braun regular days off in recent years and last year he played 18 games (12 starts) at first base to keep him in the lineup more. In 144 games last year (his highest game total since 2012, over 508 plate appearances), he hit .285/.343/.505 with 22 home runs, 75 RBI and 11 stolen bases with an OPS+ of 116.
Braun had been in line to split time in right field with free agency signing Avisail Garcia, along with some time at first base as Christian Yelich moves over to left field. But now Braun can literally be a full-time DH, and just hit with little or no time spent in the field.
Before the coronavirus pandemic really took hold and stalled everything, Braun acknowledged that 2020 could be his final season. This is the final fully guaranteed year of his contract, with a $15 million club option for 2021. But a short season might change his thinking about continuing to play, apart from the Brewers’ deciding to pick up that option. With 344 career home runs entering this season, a run at 400 homers over the next 2-3 seasons if the universal DH does stick isn’t out of the question.
Braun never was a fantastic defensive player, regardless of the position he played. So being able to DH regularly, if not all the time this year, is perfect for him. It doesn’t have to hard for Counsell, who will practically write the former NL MVP’s name into the lineup as the DH in ink over the 60-game season.