Aguilar is on a hot streak
Less than a month after wondering whether he’d be part of the Milwaukee Brewers’ opening-day roster, Jesús Aguilar is coming off his third three-hit performance in five starts and leading the team’s regular position players with a .414 average.
It’s funny how quickly things can change.
Ryan Braun went into the season pegged as the team’s first baseman against left-handed pitching. But because of injuries to Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich that left the Brewers needing Braun’s services in left field and Braun’s own various injury woes, Aguilar has received more playing time than expected.
“It was best-laid plans, but the plans never really happened,” manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s why you’ve got to keep your options open a little bit and you’ve got to understand that you don’t know what’s going to happen the next day sometimes, with as much time as we spend planning for it.
“That’s why your attitude and your outlook is always very important – because it can change on a dime and you can be counted on for something more in some periods and something less in certain periods. But when opportunity knocks, you’ve got to be ready for it.
“I think Jesús has done a great job of understanding that there would be opportunity at some point, and he’s taken advantage of it.”
Aguilar is once again showing why the Brewers went to great pains to keep him on their 25-man roster.
Claimed off waivers from the Cleveland Indians just before spring training in 2017, Aguilar formed a formidable first-base platoon last year with Eric Thames. He followed up a torrid Cactus League performance with a .265 average, 16 home runs and 52 runs batted in over 133 games in his first full major-league season.
He was also the team’s top pinchhitter, a role that’s typically difficult for an inexperienced player to fill when he’s not receiving regular atbats.
In only 29 at-bats this season, Aguilar has still managed to rack up 12 hits, four doubles and three RBI to go with a.485 on-base percentage and an OPS of 1.037. He recorded the eighth three-hit game of his career in the Brewers’ 12-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Thursday and should get another start Sunday against lefthander Caleb Smith.
“I don’t really care who’s pitching; I just focus on what I can do,” Aguilar said. “I’ve got a lot of confidence in myself. I think that’s why success has happened for me. I don’t want to hit ‘names’ – I just want to hit the ball. I feel ready.
“If I can see the ball and hit it, I’m going to be all right.”
Could the production put forth at first base by Thames and Aguilar convince the Brewers to keep Braun solely in left field for the time being?
“Look, Jesús is certainly earning at bats,” Counsell said. “There’s no question he’s swinging the bat really well and he’s done his job.”
Different approach: Third baseman Travis Shaw was pretty sure he’d accomplished a first in his professional career by not swinging at any of the first 19 pitches thrown to him Thursday night.
He walked in each of his first three plate appearances and then watched the first three pitches go by in his fourth before finally swinging and fouling off a Junichi Tazawa fastball.
Shaw eventually struck out in that at-bat, swinging at what he said Friday was Ball 4, and then finally capped his night by singling on an 0-2 count in the eighth.
“It’s hard to do,” Shaw said with a laugh when asked about his unusual patience. “I was sitting there thinking about it going up for my fourth at-bat that I hadn’t swung the bat in like, three hours.”
Shaw entered Friday much like the rest of the Brewers’ offense — faring OK but believing there’s much better to come with a .267 average, two homers, seven RBI and a .345 on-base percentage.
He said tracking as many pitches as he has in this recent stretch has left him in a good place at the plate.
“I feel like I’m seeing the ball well,” he said. “I’ve walked six times in the last three games. I’m seeing spin well off lefties and righties. I feel like I’m close to having a nice run. I haven’t really had a good stretch yet this year.”