In 2007 the Brewers got off to a fabulous 24-10 start, only to finish two games shy of the division title. This year, after one week, the Brewers are off to a 5-1 start. Will this be a repeat of last season or are the Brewers for real this time?
In April there were several Brewers playing over their heads (*ahem* J.J. Hardy), leading to a record that they just couldn't maintain all season long. So this is my assessment of the guys so far (excluding starting pitchers, as all but Sheets have only made one start) Some of them won't maintain this pace, some need to pick it up.
Playing over his head:
Jason Kendall- I'm not quite expecting him to be hitting .467 all season long. But the way he's handled our pitchers I would be happy with a .267 average. I expect his play behind the dish to stay about the same throughout the season, but I'm certainly not counting on getting as much production out of our #9 hitter as we have so far.
Gabe Kapler- Come on. Nobody expected this out of Kapler. Two homers already in only sixteen ABs. If he kept playing like he is now, we wouldn't even want Mike Cameron back. Nevertheless, I expect him to remain a solid bench player when Cameron returns.
Let's get it going:
Eric Gagne- I'm not expecting a 45 save season from Gagne. I know, I know, he's past his prime, no more HGH, blah blah blah. But HGH doesn't create ability that wasn't there in the first place. Barry Bonds would still have been a great player even without "help." Gagne is better than what he's shown us so far, although he has only shown us 2 innings.
Prince Fielder- Don't let the .364 average through week 1 fool you. He's gotten really lucky with dribblers sneaking through the infield. Prince has put together some less than fabulous at bats over this week, and he clearly has yet to find his power stroke. Prince isn't locked in yet. He'll be better over the course of the season, even though the average will obviously go down.
J.J. Hardy- Okay, the "I've been sick" excuse will only fly for so long. He slugged a fabulous .158 over week 1. At this rate, Ben Sheets will have more RBIs at season's end than J.J. will. He just looks lost at the plate. I'm not expecting the start he had last season or even the final numbers he had, but this is not the J.J. Hardy that Brewers fans expect.
Right where they should be:
Ryan J. Braun- Picked up right where he left off last season. Still waiting for the steals to come, though.
Corey C. Hart- I continue to maintain that he should be hitting in the 5 spot. Still excelling with runners in scoring position (limited ABs, I know), very aggressive on the base paths and great instincts.
Who knows?
Bill Hall- Was 2006 a fluke, or was 2007? Personally, I think he should be somewhere in the middle. He struggled last year because of his switch to the outfield, where he was clearly not comfortable. Now that he's back in the infield, I think it's definitely possible for him to put up numbers similar to his '06 season.
Rickie Weeks- Yeah yeah, potential potential. Still waiting for that to actually show up. I know Rickie can be great. I just want to see him show it for an extended period of time. So far he's been doing a pretty good job getting on base, he just needs to bring that average up to be a leadoff hitter. Way way up.
Gallardo is supposed to come back mid-late April, Cameron the end of the month. My prediction: with Gallardo's return, Mota is gone, Bush to the bullpen. With Cameron's return, Gabe Gross is outta here.
