Hiura won’t make opening day roster
PHOENIX – Keston Hiura’s tenure as a Milwaukee Brewer may have reached its completion.
Hiura, once the organization’s most promising prospect, was informed by the Brewers on Friday afternoon that he will not make the club.
The Brewers will attempt to find a trade for Hiura, who is out of minorleague options, in the following days. If they cannot come to a deal with another team, Hiura will be placed on waivers and another team can claim him.
“We’d love for him to have an opportunity in the big leagues if it’s not with us because he’s earned that,” Brewers general manager Matt Arnold said. “He’s been a great Brewer and a great guy. He’s just awesome. Tough conversation.”
Hiura was drafted by the Brewers in the first round in 2017 and broke into the majors with the team in 2019. He was rated as high as the No. 6 prospect in baseball by Baseball Prospectus that spring and made good on the hype off the bat, tearing the league up in his rookie year, recording a .938 OPS with 19 homers in 84 games.
Hiura has yet to regain that form, though. He has a .687 OPS over the last three seasons and was sent down to the minor leagues in each of the previous two years.
Hiura performed better last year after a dismal 2021, slashing .226/.316/.449 with an adjusted OPS of 115 but his primary offensive malady of strikeouts only worsened as he struck out in a career-high 41.7% of plate appearances.
Strikeouts weren’t always a glaring issue for Hiura. As a prospect at the University of California-Irvine, Hiura was renowned for his feel for contact. His strikeout rate through his first two years in the minors was under 20%.
But as a rookie in 2019, even with his overall success, Hiura’s strikeout rate climbed to 30.7% and it only went up each succeeding season. This spring, Hiura struggled mightily, striking out in 15 of 35 plate appearances.
Hiura’s performance this camp didn’t help his case to make the team, Arnold said, but it ultimately came down to the whole body of work and how Hiura, who doesn’t have a true defensive home, fit into the roster picture.
“I would say (it mattered) somewhat but obviously when you have tough decisions down the stretch it’s kind of the fit with the entire group,” Arnold said. “Obviously, the spring performance was mixed and that probably didn’t work in his favor. But you’re looking at the body of work and how it fits with the rest of the team.”
It isn’t quite a guarantee that Hiura will no longer be with the Brewers. If he isn’t traded and then clears waivers, he would remain with the organization and Milwaukee could outright him to the minor leagues. Considering Hiura’s prospect pedigree and track record, though, it would seem unlikely that no other team takes a chance on him.
The question around Hiura as he enters the next chapter in his career is the same as it has been since his rookie season: Can he regain that electrifying form he showed in 2019?
“We have a lot of guys that think he can, we really do,” Arnold said. “He just needs the opportunity. And he just ran out of that runway, unfortunately with us here in the near term. But if he remains a Brewer, he would get that runway in Triple-A and always has the opportunity to make an adjustment and come back.”
Prospects Frelick, Wiemer ‘definitely in play’
The team also informed outfielder Tyler Naquin he wasn’t making the team.
Naquin has a steady track record in the majors with a .765 OPS and leagueaverage 100 OPS across seven seasons and has hit righties particularly well, but has batted just .207 with a .570 this spring. Naquin had an opt-out in his contract earlier in the week but still has the ability to remain with the Brewers in the minor leagues.
The fallout of the decision with Naquin is it leaves the door open for someone else in Brewers major-league camp to seize the open outfield roster spot. And that someone may just be a top prospect.
Both Sal Frelick, ranked as the Brewers No. 2 prospect by the Journal Sentinel, and Joey Wiemer, ranked No. 3, are firmly in contention for the opening day roster, confirming what manager Craig Counsell alluded to last week.
“Those guys have played really, really well,” Brewers general manager Matt Arnold said. “They’re definitely in play.”
Another top prospect, infielder Brice Turang, has put himself in contention for a roster spot with his performance this spring, but the Brewers roster as constructed has more coverage on the infield.