Gilbert Lara has grown up in the Brewers' minor-league system

APPLETON - It was supposed to be a watershed moment for both Gilbert Lara and the Milwaukee Brewers.

On July 10, 2014, the 16-year-old shortstop from Bani, Dominican Republic officially joined the organization as an international signee. He received a franchise-record $3.2 million signing bonus, one that signaled the Brewers’ commitment to improving a minor-league system bereft of high-impact player and their desire to become a player on the international amateur market.

But much has changed in the nearly four years that have passed.

Lara, now 20, mostly spun his wheels in his first three seasons, held back by inconsistent play, a questionable attitude at times and then a major injury that ended his 2017 prematurely.

The Brewers, meanwhile, have rebuilt their farm system since signing Lara while also returning to competitiveness at the major-league level. They traded several of their top prospects in the off-season to land Christian Yelich but still boast quite a bit of talent, including for the first time in ages starting pitching.

So where does Lara stand at this point?

The good news is that he’s off to a solid start at Class A Wisconsin, hitting .290 with three home runs and 18 runs batted in through 30 games while playing both shortstop and third base. He’s also still on the young side as a player in the Midwest League, a reminder that there’s still a lot more yet to play out in his career.

But it’s tough not to think that Lara hasn’t come close to reaching the expectations many had for him after he signed. He recalled his public introduction by the team 11 days after signing, when he had fans drooling after an impressive session of batting practice with the Brewers at Miller Park.

“That’s still fresh in my memory,” Lara said recently through Timber Rattlers player-coach Fidel Pena, who also serves as the team’s translator.

“It doesn’t seem like it was too long ago, but it wasn’t too recent, either. My career hasn’t gone the way I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be easier and I would do good, and obviously I’ve struggled.

“That always makes it seem like it’s been longer.”

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Lara’s professional career began in 2015, when he hit a combined .240/1/25 in 63 games split between the rookie Arizona League Brewers and Helena of the Pioneer League.

He spent all of 2016 at Helena and fared OK, finishing at .250/2/28 in 59 games, before getting his first taste of a full-season team when he started 2017 with Wisconsin. The 67-game trial did not go well, as he hit .193/3/22 before the Brewers opted to send him back to Helena to regain some confidence.

It was there that Lara experienced the first major injury of his career. In his first game with Helena, Lara fractured his right fibula and dislocated his right ankle on a slide – a mishap that resulted in season-ending surgery.

Lara traveled to Milwaukee for the surgery, then back to Arizona to rehab at the Brewers’ Maryvale facility. It was a tough time both physically and mentally for Lara, whose family was unable to obtain visas to travel from the Dominican Republic and help him in his recovery.

“It was frustrating because I wasn’t performing very well last year during the season and then that happened,” Lara said. “I was really looking forward to working and trying hard to get better. It hit me hard at the beginning, but then I understood it’s going to happen in baseball and just went with it.

“Last year overall was just a tough year for me – bad season and I end up getting injured. It was a humbling year, a learning process.”

Lara said he finally felt 100 percent recovered once he reported to camp this spring and ready to turn the page on 2017. He’d also come to the realization that in order for him to begin truly fulfilling his promise, some changes needed to be made to his approach.

“At the beginning of my career I would just channel all my anger into complaining and just being mad and not really paying attention to what I was doing wrong, what I needed to get better at,” he said. “Throughout my career the learning process has been tough, but I’m getting there and right now I’m a little more mature and I know that just being angry isn’t going to solve things. You really have to pay attention to what you’re doing and try to make the adjustments.

“God gives you a talent for a reason, and you can’t just throw the towel in and give up right away. You’ve got to just keep fighting and fighting until you get it right.”

Lara did admit to carrying the weight of his signing bonus – still the largest ever given to an international signee by the Brewers – in the midst of his struggles.

“I felt a little pressure back then because it was such a big signing bonus and a big signing for the Brewers,” he said. “I felt the responsibility of, ‘I can’t fail for these people. I have to live up to it and I have to be good my first year and make an impact right away, and keep it going my second year.’

“I felt the pressure a little bit.”

Lara’s second go-round with Wisconsin is going much better, with his durability (33 games played, one off the team lead) and a 13-game hitting streak highlights.

“When you talk about hitting on Lara’s side, much better balance,” Wisconsin manager Matt Erickson said. “He’s got a foundation to his lower half this year that he did not have at any point last year. Last year, a lot of time and effort was put into that behind the scenes to get him a better foundation, better balance with is lower half. You could see the progression in his work over a period of time, but not much of that relayed over into competition. This year, off to a good start.

“You can see he’s really good with his work. He doesn’t constantly have to be reminded of things to do; he’s doing them on his own. It looks natural to him and comfortable and some of that is carrying into the game to a more consistent offensive player.”

Added Lara: “It feels really good. It’s encouraging me to keep working. I’ve never had a start to the season like this one, so it definitely feels really good and I like how everything is working out.”

Lara has made 24 starts at shortstop and nine at third base, with his three errors coming at shortstop. As far as physical comparisons go Erickson said that Lara most closely resembles Jake Gatewood, another long, lanky prospect who played both shortstop and third for the Timber Rattlers in 2016.

“I would say Jake was a little quicker, but Lara’s baseball instincts and body control are better than Gatewood’s as far as playing off the run,” he said. “If he can get to the ball and it hits Lara’s glove, you’re out. He’s got soft hands and his best tool is the strength and accuracy of his throwing arm. That’s at third and short – he can make any throw from the left side of the infield.

“He had the ankle injury and he wasn’t a tremendously explosive kid before that, so his challenge this year is to continue to get better with his agility and first-step quickness, and learning hitters and paying attention to the hitting zone. To use his eyes and pay attention to what the hitters are telling him so he can position himself to get better jumps.”

Lara said he’s been told by the organization that he’ll continue to play shortstop until he proves he can’t, and if that day comes he’ll shift full-time to third.

Professionalism remains a focus for Lara, who remains outside most top-30 prospect lists after ranking as high as fourth and fifth in the organization in 2015-'16.

“The only thing they expect out of me is that I respect the game and I go out there every day and play hard, no matter how well or how bad I’m doing,” he said when asked about the team's expectations for him. “Just for me to go out there and do everything I’m supposed to do.”

There is lots more baseball to be played in the months and seasons to come for Lara. And at some point he hopes to return to Miller Park – but on a full-time basis, and as a major-leaguer.

“I don’t know when, but that is and will always be the dream – to play in the big leagues,” he said. “I’m glad that things have started to turn around for me and that I’m looking better and making some adjustments.

“God willing, I’ll make it to the big leagues.”