Brewers' Keon Broxton on a power surge
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Each spring there are a handful of home runs hit at Maryvale Baseball Park that make you say, 'Wow.'
Keon Broxton crushed the latest one Monday against the Seattle Mariners. He sent the first Hisashi Iwakuma offering he saw in the second inning over the grass berm in left, with the ball eventually bouncing on a walkway and over a high brick wall before ultimately coming to rest on the pavement behind an adjacent supermarket.
Granted, it accounted for just two runs in an eye-popping 24-3 Milwaukee Brewers victory. But Broxton's blast still left an impression.
"(Ryan) Braun told me it went pretty deep," Broxton recounted. "If he tells you it went deep, it definitely went deep."
Broxton did flash some power in his up-and-down 2016 with the Brewers. His first career round-tripper came off eventual National League Cy Young award winner Max Scherzer, and he also hit a laser beam that according to StatCast left Chase Field at 114.9 mph – the Brewers' second-hardest-hit ball last season.
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Broxton wound up hitting nine homers in all, with eight of those coming after his fourth and final callup from Class AAA Colorado Springs last July 25. It was the all-around package that Broxton flashed over that final stint that left him as the favorite to serve as the primary centerfielder in 2017, and his offensive showing so far this spring has done nothing but solidify that status.
"I’ve always been kind of a slow starter, especially in the season," said Broxton, who entered Wednesday tied for the team lead in homers with three and extra-base hits with six to go along with a .387 average, .486 on-base percentage and OPS of 1.293.
"In the spring I haven’t been able to drive the ball as well as I have this year, so that’s pretty new. Feeling as comfortable as I do, I usually don’t feel this grounded in the box right now. So that’s a new step for me.
"I’m trying to develop good habits in the spring and carry them over into the season."
Broxton was asked what's made him so much more comfortable in 2017 compared to earlier years.
"Just believing in myself and my hands," he said. "Previous springs I would always kind of second-guess myself when I would swing. This year and last year I’ve just been letting it go. Just reacting to what my eyes see, and that’s gotten me to a good place right now."
The key to Broxton's late-season turnaround in 2016 was the tweak he made to his batting stance during his final demotion to Colorado Springs, dropping his hands near waist level once he got settled in the box. He's now fully comfortable with the change, and the fractured right wrist that ended his 2016 two weeks early is fully healed.
If Broxton is able to put it all together for a full season in 2017, the Brewers could have a dynamic top of the lineup by pairing him with another speed-power threat in Jonathan Villar. But the book is out on Broxton now, and it's up to him to adjust and perform.
"He’s got power; that’s not a secret. But squaring up the baseball is his challenge," manager Craig Counsell said. "Putting the ball in play in a good way is his challenge. That’s what he has to focus on.
"He put together an incredible six weeks (in 2016). But it is six weeks. The league gets to make an adjustment to him now, and how he handles it once we get started here is the challenge."
Different story: While Wily Peralta left feeling good about his brief time with the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, it was a different story for Carlos Torres.
The Brewers reliever, who returned to camp on Wednesday, had a lot to say about Mexico's controversial elimination. Mexico lost a tiebreaker to Venezuela and Italy based on runs scored per defensive innings played, then filed a protest that ultimately proved unsuccessful. Each team went 1-2 in the first round in Pool D in Jalisco, Mexico, but only Venezuela and Italy advanced.
"The non-baseball experience was amazing," Torres said. "The experience with Major League Baseball was absolutely atrocious."
Torres pitched two innings over two games, allowing three hits, two earned runs and a walk with a strikeout. The conditions were challenging, with the game played at 5,108 feet above sea level and with no humidors used to help deaden the balls, but the experience was still something to remember.
"I’ve been trying to play in the World Baseball Classic since it started," he said. "It was truly one of the biggest honors of my life, to be put on that team to represent Mexico."
Taking notice: Barring an injury or something truly unforeseen, catcher René García has no chance of making the Brewers’ roster. But, given an unexpected chance to start Tuesday against the Cubs when Andrew Susac was scratched with neck stiffness, Garcia showed off his arm, throwing out three runners on the bases.
“They told me before the game I was going to start,” García said. “It was fun. I threw three guys out. I got to play seven innings, got a base hit, scored two runs. That was a good day for me.”
García began his career with Houston, later signed with Philadelphia and joined the Brewers’ organization after the 2015 season. He split last season between Class AA Biloxi and Class AAA Colorado Springs and likely is fourth on the catching depth chart behind the three players vying for two jobs with the Brewers – Jett Bandy, Many Pińa and Susac.
“He’s done a nice job with our pitching staff; he throws well,” Counsell said. “He is here because of his defense.”
Counsell said Susac’s neck problem “is not serious but it’s probably going to be a couple of days until it loosens up."
