[BirdWatcher]

Moving on to the position players, starting with catchers and infielders in this post.


Catchers:

Both of the Denver catchers over-achieved with the bats in 1983 so some reversion to the mean was expected. But in the first half of the season this took the form of an extreme swing towards complete incompetence at the plate. Fortunately things got better in the second half and both are solid defenders.

Willie Ortega: The 28-year old Ortega has become another fan favorite and the pitching staff is pretty fond of him as well. He is a wonderful defender with a strong arm. As previously detailed, his hitting improved in the second half but the truth is that his bat is never going to be carrying card.

Jesse Cooper: In theory, Cooper should be the better hitting catcher of the tandem, but that didn't play out in 1984 as he hit .233/.288/.338. He is also a fine defensive backstop though his arm is merely average. But at this point, in combination with Ortega, this position is set for the Brewers.

First base:

Brett Taranto: The 1982 MVP who hit .402 that season had a bit of bounce-back season in 1984 after putting up just 2.4 WAR in his 1983 season. Taranto hit .316/.361/.487 in 1984 for 3.1 WAR over the course of 466 plate appearances at age 33.

Ben Flynn: Part of why Brett Taranto had fewer plate appearances then he has had in any season since becoming a regular is that Ben Flynn's power bat needed more playing time and first base is the only place he can play (other than pitching in the bullpen). Flynn responded, hitting .331/.355/.545 in 375 plate appearances, good for 3.2 WAR.


Second base:

Victor Martinez: Martinez, who got his first taste of the WPK late in 1983 at the advanced age of 25, earned the starting job at second this season and was named the All-Star starter at the position (he was injured and unable to play) and was one of the bright spots for the club in 1984. He went .295/.374/.436 and played excellent defense (probably our best candidate for a Gold Glove this year) giving him a 4.0 WAR season (476 PA). Realistically he is probably keeping the position warm for top position player prospect Nick Mull, who might not have the offensive upside of Martinez but is an even better fielder and an absolute burner on the base paths (Martinez is slow).

Bobby Erbakan: The veteran long-time Brewer emerged in the past few seasons as a disruptive clubhouse force and he is considered wrecked in terms of injury proneness. And yet, he continued to hit this season, in his limited opportunities. Bobby went .287/.350/.456 over the course of 217 plate appearances (and was even better until a late season slump). He is 37 years old and the team had a buy-out option on 1985, which would have been the last year of his current contract. They took it. Bobby's Brewers career is ended.

Third base:

I'm not even sure who to talk about here as this was a position of flux in 1984. The season started with the fragile Craig Hoover but he was traded away to Charlotte before the trading deadline. (Minor league starting pitcher Alex Canty was part of the haul in return and he ended up being the Pitcher of the Year in AAA and has a chance to be a back end of the rotation arm for the Brewers.) For awhile the Brewers let Dave Harbin, who was part of the package from Phoenix when we sent them Bryant Cox, play third. He is an excellent defender. And hit .188/.269/.377, which was actually better then he did in his short stint in Phoenix. He was sent to AAA.
So let's talk about....

Russell Fleming: Fleming, as has been discussed often here before, can hit a bit. His .290/.325/.377 slash line over the course of 249 plate appearances in 1984 was the worst of his Brewers career thus far but still not bad. (Certainly much better than some of the other options.) He is decent fielder but is error prone. At nearly 28 years old it is becoming hard to see what the future holds for Fleming. He is somewhere between a valuable bench player and an average starter. He's probably positioned to at least start 1985 as the starting third baseman but eventually someone is going to replace him (possibly even better hitting and fielding top third base prospect Jeremy Beeson, the Brewers 1st round draft pick this year.)

Chris Romines: I guess we should talk about Romines too, who put up 1.2 WAR in very limited action late in the season. Romines does have a great contact hit tool with elite avoid K skills. But he's probably best suited to play first base. And there is a logjam there. Hard to know what the future holds for the 24 year old switch-hitter.

Shortstop:
Yet another position of flux in 1984. Dustin Moore, who had started and starred for the team for two seasons at second base, while also getting significant playing time at short, was named the starter going into the season. And then that didn't work out at all. He stopped hitting and he was committing errors left and right. He was traded in late June to Boston and the Brewers got a pair of pretty good middle infielders in the mix who we will talk about soon. Well, one of the them we will talk about now....

Roberto Costocurta: You may have noticed Costocurta's name in the previous post along with a very anemic looking batting line. In fact, Costocurta improved considerably with the bat as the season progressed and his slash line as a Brewer was .265/.316/.369. Not very good but just good enough given his defensive skills and speed (11 SB, 1 CS). Given the lack of better options, the 26-year old former 3rd round draft pick is the starter at short for the time being. He also proved to be the leader our owner was directing us to acquire.

Utility infielders:

Marty Crumbley: Crumbley was the other middle infielder we got from Boston in the Moore deal. He is a 23-year old former 1st round draft pick and it is starting to look like he might emerge as a very good player with a strong hit tool and above average defense at both second base and shortstop. In 82 plate appearances with the big league club in 1984 he hit .387/.439/.547. He can't run at all, he doesn't walk much, and his power is average at best, but he has great contact skills and gap power and good makeup (high intelligence, adaptability, loyalty). He is likely the middle infield backup to start the 1985 season. After that, well, who knows.

Sam Beverly: I'm not sure whether to talk about Beverly here or in the next post with the outfielders, but ultimately first base is probably his landing spot, though with what team is still the question. He is an acceptable corner outfielder and could even play a passable third base possibly. But mostly he's a hitter, with plus power and decent contact skills and a good eye. Our scouts love him for some reason (rated a 4 star player at age 25) but his overall skills don't look that great. He's slow, he's not much of a fielder, and he doesn't profile as being special in any way as a hitter. Then again, in his 71 plate appearances with Denver last season he hit .323/.380/.477 so maybe he is better than he looks. He is considered very smart. But where will I play him? He might be good trade bait. (OSA thinks he's a 4-star player also.)

There are a few other we could talk about here, like 26-year old good contact/plus defense/hard worker Flip Van Dijk, or the aforementioned Dave Harbin. But I wouldn't really know what else to say about them. At this point they look like filler/injury replacements/utility guys.