Grisham will make debut Thursday
OAKLAND, Calif. -- On a day dominated by the pitching acquisitions they made at the trading deadline, the Milwaukee Brewers were also laying the groundwork for the promotion of their best minor-league position player in 2019.
Manager Craig Counsell announced before Wednesday night's game with the Oakland A's at Oakland Coliseum that outfielder Trent Grisham would be recalled from Class AAA San Antonio and in the starting lineup Thursday.
The Brewers' first-round pick in 2015 out of Richland (Texas) High School, the 22-year-old Grisham is in the midst of a breakout season and capped his Missions tenure for the time being with a two-homer cycle.
"We're trying to get a player that's playing really well and inject him into our big-league roster," Counsell said. "He's playing his butt off right now. Trent's had some rough seasons, frankly, and he's having an incredible season this year.
"A lot of credit to him – he's a firstround pick who's a talented kid who had a really good first year in pro ball and then struggled. But all the credit goes to him, man. He's turned it around."
Indeed, Grisham struggled from 2016-19 as he battled injuries and inconsistency to slowly rise through Milwaukee's system. He was consistently one of the youngest players at each level, but his inability to hit any better than .233 for a full-season team cost him his prospect status.
He opened this season at Class AA Biloxi and immediately looked like a different player, hitting .254 with 13 homers and 41 runs batted in in 63 games. That, along with an injury suffered by 2016 first-round pick Corey Ray, paved the way to his bump up to San Antonio.
Grisham homered in each of his first three games with the Missions and hasn't stopped hitting since. After Tuesday's cycle, he was hitting .381 with 13 homers and 30 RBI while compiling an OPS of 1.247 in 34 games.
Overall in 97 games, Grisham is hitting .300 with 26 homers and 71 RBI with an OPS of 1.010.
"He's had a season that, man, you've got to take note of it. You really do," said Counsell of Grisham, who made a good impression on the Brewers coaching staff in the spring when he hit .379/2/4 in 17 Cactus League games.
"What he's been doing at Triple-A since he got there is out-of-this-worldtype stuff. It's like the stuff (Christian) Yelich was doing last year, basically. Maybe even a little better. So we've taken note of it.
"We feel like it's a hot player and a player who's playing really well and we want to put that on the big-league roster and get him in there."
Grisham has always been well-regarded for his plate discipline, and this season he has only five more strikeouts (72) than walks (67). The big difference in his game is the added power; he'd hit only 19 homers in 354 games coming into 2019.
"I think he had a really good foundation and I think for Trent it's really about taking more chances, meaning being a little more aggressive and swinging and going after it," Counsell said. "And it's resulted in hitting the ball a little bit more out front and then that's resulted him in driving the ball more than he ever has.
"You hit the ball out front, you're taking a little bit more of a chance to get the bat and the barrel out front, but he has that good foundation of knowing balls and strikes and he's still able to make good decisions. That's what I see.
"You ask Yeli, he says, ‘I just walked in the cage one day,' and that's how it is for a lot of these guys, too. But that's what I see."
Who's on first?
After trading away the right-handedhitting part of their first-base platoon in Jesús Aguilar, the Brewers are once again considering Ryan Braun to help fill the void there.
Braun played his first major-league games at the position last season, making 12 starts there alongside the lefthanded-hitting Eric Thames. But the emergence of Aguilar after Thames was lost to thumb surgery left him as the team's starter there, and he eventually emerged as an all-star.
Thames figures to split the playing time with Travis Shaw there now against right-handed pitching, and Braun could factor in when the Brewers are facing a left-handed starter.
"It's not going to happen overnight," said Counsell. "It's not a perfect fit, necessarily, but Ryan's going to play against left-handed pitching. We try to get him in there every day against left-handed pitching. You can't play in two places.
"We're bringing Trent Grisham to the big leagues. There may be some spots there. The Braun at first base thing is something we'll work on, but you're not going to see it this weekend (in Chicago)."
Pomeranz en route
The hope was veteran Drew Pomeranz, who was acquired from the San Francisco Giants along with Ray Black, would be in uniform Thursday. It would have been easy to get him to Oakland had the Giants been at home, but in a stroke of bad luck they're currently playing in Philadelphia.
He will give Counsell a third left-hander with which to work along with closer Josh Hader and Alex Claudio. Pomeranz started most of the season for the Giants, but since being switched to relief he's allowed one hit and one walk while striking out eight over four appearances (5 1/3 innings).
"Pomeranz is a really good fit for our bullpen. I feel like he really complements our other guys well," Counsell said. "He does have length that he can provide. But the left-handed-ness, there are innings that we need that and can use that."