Is Weeks becoming the strikeout king- again?

As we all know, second baseman Rickie Weeks has been a mainstay in the Brewers’ lineup, usually in the leadoff spot, since his first full season in the Majors in 2005. We’ve also noticed, unfortunately, that he’s one of the most strikeout prone players in the Majors, and always has been. This has usually been overshadowed by his power and speed, however. But there’s something I’ve noticed right off the bat this season that sort of worries me. Yes, I know it’s too early to start making judgements, but I just thought I should throw it out there.

Weeks is not looking good early in the season, and he’s been striking out a lot. Baseball Reference currently has him listed at 13 strikeouts for the season, but that was prior to today’s game, in which he struck out two more times (but everyone was striking out- Brandon Beachy kills the Brewers). But he’s leading the league in strikeouts right now, a stat you don’t want to be leading anything in. If Weeks were actually producing like he usually does and still had the same number of strikeouts, I wouldn’t be as worried. But he’s hitting .171 through the Brewers’ first ten games, which isn’t good, especially if you consider some of the hitters around him aren’t producing like they should be either.

Like I said earlier, though, Weeks is a strikeout machine, which is usually a nickname you give a pitcher as a compliment. In his career, he has 768 strikeouts in 769 games- averaging nearly a strikeout per game. So, again, it’s something we’re used to seeing. And, I’m probably over-exaggerating it, and Weeks will probably break out of this slump and will hopefully be hovering around .270-.280 by the All-Star break or so. And at least he isn’t striking out as much as Adam Dunn or Mark Reynolds. Then I’d probably have some issues with him.

But I feel like I’m blaming Weeks for all of the Brewers’ early season troubles, which definitely isn’t the case. After going 0-for-4 today, Nyjer Morgan is hitting just .143 in the somewhat limited playing time he’s received. Aramis Ramirez isn’t helping either, as he’s hitting just .114. Hopefully Ramirez’s history as a slow starter is responsible for that, and he’ll break out of it soon.

Meanwhile, though, the pitching staff currently leads the league in runs given up. It’s pretty hard to win games when you’re not scoring runs and giving up runs at the same time.

Well, I guess I’ve kind of drifted off from the topic of Weeks’ strikeout habits, and this has kind of turned into a post about all of the issues the Brewers are having early on. But that’s about everything.

Anyway, on an unrelated note, I’d like to apologize for my lack of work here on Reviewing the Brew lately. As cool as the new FanSided layout is, it hasn’t exactly been nice to my computer (or vice versa). Hopefully I can get back to posting regularly though.