Grading the Brewers: Logan Schafer

For Logan Schafer, not much can be said for the Milwaukee Brewers’ 27 year-old back up outfielder. Once again in 2013, Schafer had a chance to contribute in big ways for the team, but was completely overshadowed.

How will that affect his grade for the season?

This is a perfect reaction as to how Logan Schafer’s season went. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Perhaps the only bright spot for Schafer was early on in the season when manager Ron Roenicke felt the absolute best (why I do not know) about pinch hitting him all the time. Mind you, this was a roster early in the season that had Josh Prince, Khris Davis and many others on it, but Schafer’s scuffling bat was always called on to pinch hit, which usually never ended well.

Schafer never really has broken out of the “back-up” outfielder role and in Milwaukee, I don’t think he ever will. In fact, this season he had a chance to become a star and shine in left field when Ryan Braun was suspended, but he flaunted his chances and ultimately lost the job to two rookies (Davis and Caleb Gindl). Granted, we can’t really say Schafer had miles of experience ahead of Davis and Gindl (only 24 games played before 2013), but still, the man has had his opportunities to come through and just hasn’t.

In 2013, Schafer played in the most games of his career with 134, but still squandered his chances at the plate. Schafer hit a measly .211/.279/.322 with 33 RBIs, 29 runs scored and stole seven bases in 337 plate appearances. Schafer is not known for his power, though he did manage an ISO of .111 despite only 22 extra base hits. The ugly mark however is him striking out 17.8 percent of the time and walking only 7.4 percent.

You might think I’m being too harsh with Schafer considering he doesn’t play all that much, but 337 plates appearances is by no means a small sample size. The Brewers were lucky to land on a guy like Davis who could actually hit the ball consistently and actually look like a competent major league player.

The one redeeming stat Schafer can write home about is his UZR, or ultimate zone rating. Schafer did not commit one error this season in 663 innings and had a UZR rating of 6.0, which is much better than Davis and even Norichika Aoki. That said, Schafer’s defense may be his only redeeming quality as the rest falls by the wayside.

Come 2014, I don’t think the Brewers will have much use for Schafer. They have other left-handers they can pinch hit and with a plethora of outfielders, Schafer ranks last behind them all, including Sean Halton who primarily would go on to play first base. Schafer has had time to show Milwaukee what he can do, but clearly there’s nothing there at all as rookies have completely taken over his role.

Schafer’s final grade: D+