Brewers' Braun feels 'awkward, uncomfortable' at first base
Ryan Braun is putting on a trapper's mitt as a favor to the Milwaukee Brewers, but he's not feeling playing first base just yet.
The former MVP is trying to make the part-time transition from left field to first in order to give manager Craig Counsell some lineup flexibility given the team's glut of outfielders. Braun - whom the Brewers would like to have play first base against left-handers during the regular season - was back in his more familiar spot on Saturday as he patrolled left field for the first time this spring in the Brewers' Cactus League contest against the Rockies.
He was very happy to be back there after struggling to get used to the infield during the early stages of camp.
"I don't feel remotely comfortable now," Braun said about how he's adjusted to life at first base, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "I'm doing the best I can with it. Guys have to make sacrifices. Ultimately, if you want to get where we want to be as a team, based on the roster we've put together, it makes us a better team if I'm able to play multiple positions.
"I'm doing it with the understanding that it’s in the best interests of the team. But, certainly, it feels awkward and uncomfortable at times."
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Playing the infield itself is not a foreign concept to Braun, who was named NL Rookie of the Year as a third baseman in 2008. But after he proved to be an ineffective fielder at the hot corner - his career fielding percentage at the position, and by default as an infielder, remains a woeful .895 - the Brewers moved him to the outfield, where he's remained ever since. Until this spring, he'd never played an inning at first.
Braun has logged just 19 innings at his new position so far this spring, and though he said that fielding ground balls again was "enjoyable", it's the other aspects of playing the position - from footwork to fielding bunts to understanding new shifts - that are giving him trouble.
Still, the Brewers are happy with the 34-year-old's progress as he continues to adjust to this new role on the fly.
"I wouldn't expect him to be comfortable yet," Counsell said. "He hasn't had a lot of games there. It's a new position.
"The process of being comfortable is not going to happen in one day. It's a process. But, so far, from all of our perspectives, he's done a really nice job at it."