Brewers Notes: Gennett impresses in new role
PHOENIX - Scooter Gennett's first real foray out of his comfort zone was a successful one.
Attempting to make the Milwaukee Brewers' roster as a utility man, Gennett started in left field and made all the requisite plays while also homering in a four-inning stint in an eventual 11-0 victory over UW-Milwaukee at Maryvale Baseball Park on Friday afternoon.
Top Brewers prospect Lewis Brinson was the star of the exhibition game, hitting a pair of homers and driving in four runs, and Jesús Aguilar added a three-run homer as the Panthers were limited to just a pair of hits in the teams' third straight spring matchup.
Gennett was tested early and made a pair of routine putouts while using one of Brinson's spare gloves. Gennett's eventual game glove hasn't even arrived yet.
“It never fails when you’re at a new position,” he said of the early action. “Two balls hit in the first inning. That’s how baseball is – it finds you.”
With Jonathan Villar the new starter at second base, Gennett needs to find a way to make himself valuable off the bench in order to make the team. He's going to be tried almost exclusively in the outfield and at third base over the next few weeks.
“It feels pretty natural," Gennett said of his first crack at the outfield.
"The biggest thing is the game stuff, the game speed. Knowing when runners are on, and that internal clock. And something like, Brinson was to my left today, knowing his speed and those kinds of things. They’re more instinctual.
"Those things, you continue to get better at as you continue working.”
Gennett said he's been alternating days between the outfield and third base, and manager Craig Counsell indicated he won't see any action at his former spot at second until probably late in camp.
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Counsell liked what he saw from Gennett in this one.
"That was probably one of the best results of the day, that he got to make some plays out there, and be tested a little bit and feel comfortable," he said. "He took a big ‘comfort’ step out there."
Hernan Perez will start in left in the Brewers' Cactus League opener Saturday against the Angels in Tempe as he continues to prepare for the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Gennett, meanwhile, continues to look at his position switch positively.
"Absolutely," said Gennett, who also doubled and finished 2 for 3. "I want to be out there every day. It’s a process of breaking camp ready to go. They don’t want us to be ready to go right now. It’s a process.
"I like getting out there and playing."
Brinson made a big early impact. The centerfielder got Milwaukee on the board with a solo homer to lead off the third inning, then hit a three-run shot in the fourth to cap a 2-for-3, four-RBI day.
"It felt good to make contact, to be honest," Brinson said. "That first at-bat, I was just trying to put barrel on ball. To hit two out, the swing's looking good so far."
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Brinson, one of three touted prospects acquired from the Texas Rangers in last August's trade of Jonathan Lucroy, is in his second major-league camp overall. While Keon Broxton appears to be the prohibitive favorite to again be the Brewers' opening-day starter in center, Brinson and a handful of other youngsters are trying to get themselves on the radar.
"He had a great game," Counsell said of Brinson. "It was his first at-bats of the season and he made it look pretty easy."
UWM, which came in with a 1-3 record, managed only a pair of hits against eight Brewers pitchers while committing three errors. It was the Panthers' least competitive effort in their three appearances in Maryvale. The teams renewed acquaintances in 2015 after not playing each other since 1983.
"It’s a day we circle on the calendar, as soon as we see it on there," Panthers coach Scott Doffek said. " Most of our kids are Midwest or Wisconsin kids, so they all grew up watching the big-league guys. So, getting a chance to compete against them was great. Unfortunately, we did not play very well.
"Whether we’re playing big-league guys or not, that just wasn’t a very good brand of baseball from our side of things."
Getting a shot: Aguilar learned a hard lesson when he was in Cleveland’s spring camp a few years ago.
“They told me I was fighting for a job and I started pushing too hard,” he said. “I don’t think I got a hit. So, I know how it is.”
Aguilar, 26, is trying to avoid that pitfall in his first camp with the Brewers. He was claimed off waivers from the Indians in early February and is getting the chance to win a backup job at first base and as a right-handed hitter off the bench.
The Brewers were intrigued by the numbers Aguilar put up in three years at the Class AAA level, including the 30 home runs and 92 runs batted in last year that led the International League. He also topped that circuit with 56 extra-base hits and 243 total bases.
Counsell said Aguilar, who blasted a three-run homer against UWM, will get a long look in spring training, in part because he is out of minor-league options.
“I think Jesús will be a guy who gets a lot of at-bats this spring, just based on the composition of our players in camp, for one thing,” Counsell said. “Major-league players who are out of options, you know there’s a decision coming on them at the end of spring, so he’s going to get a lot of at-bats.”
Newcomer Eric Thames is not going to play every inning of every game, so somebody is going to have to back up at first base. Aguilar figures it might as well be him.
“It seems like I have more of an opportunity here,” Aguilar said through translator Carlos Brizuela. “That makes it fun for me and makes me want to work even harder.
“The game is the same at the end. There is more talent and better pitchers up here but I just try to keep it the same. I need to believe in myself that I can do it.
“I’m just trying to be myself and play loose and work hard. They already know what I can do. That’s why they brought me here. I have to trust myself.”