The Milwaukee Brewers find themselves with a bit of a logjam in the outfield after acquiring Christian Yelich and signing Lorenzo Cain, leaving star left fielder Ryan Braun to suggest he could pivot to the infield.
In a media scrum during Brewers On Deck - Milwaukee's winter FanFest prior to spring training - Braun said he's not only open to trying out first base, but he's already discussed moving to second base with general manager David Stearns, according to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.
To his credit, manager Craig Counsell later dismissed the idea of playing the outfielder at second base, telling McCalvy "I think he got you there."
Braun, now 34, began his career as a third baseman, so playing the infield is not foreign to him. However, over 112 games in his rookie season, Braun committed 26 errors, posted a .895 fielding percentage, and cost his team nearly 27 runs according to FanGraphs' Def. Since then, Braun has been relegated to outfield duties - playing 1039 of his 1415 career games in left field.
Braun has never played an inning at first or second base in the majors, and his conversation with Stearns suggested that second base was a way to prevent him from returning to third base, if necessary, per McCalvy.
With the acquisition of both Yelich and Cain, the Brewers added to their outfield depth which already contained Domingo Santana, Keon Broxton, and Brett Phillips.
Related - Report: Brewers dangling Santana, Phillips for starting pitcher
Meanwhile, entering the 2018 campaign, the Brewers have Eric Sogard and Jonathan Villar as the likely candidates to play second base. While the 31-year-old Sogard was just above league average in 94 games last year, he tailed off substantially after the All-Star break, posting a .586 OPS in the second half.
Even further, Villar took a substantial step back last year after slashing .285/.369/.457 with 62 stolen bases in 2016. The speedy infielder struggled to a .665 OPS with 23 stolen bases last season.
Lastly, the Brewers added Eric Thames to play first base a year ago, who is coming off a breakout campaign after spending three seasons in Korea. Over 138 games, Thames hit 31 home runs, though 23 of those came in the first half. Not only did Thames have telling splits separated by the All-Star break, but he was a much better hitter against right-handed pitchers, with an OPS nearly 270 points lower against southpaws.
Playing Braun at first base, who hits slightly better against left-handers, could allow the Brewers to platoon Thames a little more. However, there are still external candidates to fill the role of second base with spring training around the corner, if the Brewers choose.
