Gary D’Amato
The Brewers were the poorest fielding team in the majors in 2016, but Orlando Arcia, Jonathan Villar and Keon Broxton should make them stronger up the middle.
There are all kinds of metrics to measure a baseball team’s defense, but all you needed was a pair of eyes to recognize that the Milwaukee Brewers were a bad team in the field in 2016. It’s easy to see booted ground balls and wild throws.
The Brewers led the major leagues in errors (136) and finished dead last in fielding percentage (.978).
It shouldn’t be hard to improve upon those numbers this year, especially because the team will be stronger up the middle with Orlando Arcia at shortstop, Jonathan Villar at second base and Keon Broxton in center field.
All three are young, athletic and fast, and all are considered plus defenders. Arcia and Villar could form a potent double-play combination and Broxton covers a lot of ground in center.
“We have a lot of confidence in ourselves,” Arcia said through translator Carlos Brizuela. “We know on the short fly ball Keon has a lot of range out there and will get to it. I know me and Villar are going to do a good job. We both have range and speed so we’ll be able to cover a lot of ground up the middle.”
Because Arcia wasn’t called up from Class AAA Colorado Springs until Aug. 2, Villar didn’t play second base until a late 11game trial (eight starts) and Broxton bounced up and down between Colorado Springs and the parent club and then suffered a broken wrist Sept. 16, the three have barely played together.
Though the threesome has tantalizing potential, each has something to prove.
Arcia, 22, must offer more at the plate after batting .219 with a .273 on-base percentage in 55 games. The Brewers don’t need a lot out of him offensively, but they need more than that.
Villar, 25, must prove he wasn’t a one-year wonder after batting .285 and leading the majors with 62 stolen bases. One possible red flag: He hit just .213 in September.
Broxton, 26, must stay healthy and show that his late-season surge (.294 over his last 46 games) is more indicative of his production than his early struggles (.125 over his first 29 games).
All have some pop in their bats, as evidenced by their combined 32 home runs and 97 extrabase hits. Villar hit 19 homers, falling one short of joining Joe Morgan, Eric Davis and Rickey Henderson as the only 20-60 players in major-league history.
On the base paths, all three can wreak havoc.
Broxton swiped 23 bases and was caught stealing just four times. Arcia stole eight bases in eight attempts. Villar was caught 18 times, which led the majors, and ran into too many outs, but manager Craig Counsell is confident he’ll cut down on his baserunning mistakes as he gains experience.
Counsell loves to run so it’s not a stretch to say that the three, if healthy, could combine for 120 steals this season.
But it’s in the field where they could have the biggest impact.
Arcia’s range factor (putouts and assists per nine innings) in an admittedly small sample was 5.00 last year; for comparison’s sake, Arizona’s Nick Ahmed led majorleague shortstops at 4.79.
Villar still has to adjust to second base, but his range factor in 108 games at shortstop was 4.65, which ranked third and showed he can cover ground. He also must cut down on his errors after leading the majors with 29.
Broxton can flat-out fly. He said he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds as a standout wide receiver at Lakeland (Fla.) High School and turned down an opportunity to play college football.
“I imagine it (his 40 time) would be a little faster now than what it was in high school,” he said.
In theory, the Brewers’ speed and range up the middle should help save runs.
“Teams are really good if they’re good up the middle,” Broxton said. “Having those guys in the infield, it’s going to be hard to get a lot of balls through there and there’s going to be a lot of double plays turned.
“And then me, doing whatever I can, I think it’s going to help the team out. It’s going to be hard to get hits against us. We’re going to be a run-saving team, for sure.”
Of course, the Brewers’ other position players must hold up their end of the bargain in the field. But one thing is certain: It won’t take much to improve on what they did in 2016. Contact Gary D’Amato at gdamato@journalsentinel.com or on Twitter @garydamatogolf