Milwaukee Brewers Keon Broxton is at AAA, but will he be Back?

Keon Broxton went from being on the Milwaukee Brewers 25-man Roster to being sent back down to Colorado Springs, and he’s not alone.

When teams get ready to finalize their 25 man rosters before the start of the season, there are always tough decisions that have to be made. There usually seems to be one guy who is “on the bubble” of being cut or making his first ever Opening Day team.

Unfortunately for the Milwaukee Brewers, their choices for the “last guy” to make the team have notoriously not been productive at the major league level.

As the Milwaukee Brewers wrapped up their road series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday and prepared to go to Minnesota, one man had already found his way out of the big leagues with the Crew: Keon Broxton.

Keon went 0-2 for the Pirates in the majors last season before batting .224 this spring for the Brewers.  A 0-16 start to the season prompted a trip to the minors.

More from Brewers News

• Brewers: Yet Another Huge Promotion For Top Prospect Jackson Chourio
• Brewers Making Colossal Mistake With Corbin Burnes’ Contract
• Which Players May Be In The Final Month Of Their Brewers Careers?
• Brewers: Where Does Devin Williams Stand In NL Reliever Of The Year Race?
• Brewers: Lorenzo Cain Was Right to Call Out the Team’s Management

Broxton still has not reached his 26^th birthday, and this is likely not his last chance to catch on in the majors, but his recent demotion to AAA brings to mind some other Brewers who have had the dubious distinction of failing in the “man off the bench” role which ultimately led to their demise.

In 2009, 29-year-old outfielder Chris Duffy went 4-32 (.125) and was later sent to AAA. He emerged the next season as an AAA player for the Phillies but has not played affiliated ball since.

That same year, 26-year-old outfield and first base prospect Brad Nelson went zero for 21 in the big leagues. He elected his free agency and had since played for the Mariners, Rangers, Cubs and Twins organizations, but he has never tasted the big leagues since that 2009 season.

33 Year Old Utilityman Erick Almonte made his first big league team out of spring when he became a major league with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2011. He went 3 for 29 with a batting average of .103, but he also was hit on the head with a ball in warm-ups and became the first player placed on the seven-day concussion dl.

He spent the rest of the 2011 season at AAA, and he returned there in 2012. While Almonte did play in the Dominican and Mexican Leagues in 2012 and 2013, he never surfaced in the majors again.

More from Reviewing the Brew

• Brewers: Yet Another Huge Promotion For Top Prospect Jackson Chourio
• Brewers Making Colossal Mistake With Corbin Burnes’ Contract
• Which Players May Be In The Final Month Of Their Brewers Careers?
• Brewers: Where Does Devin Williams Stand In NL Reliever Of The Year Race?
• Brewers: Lorenzo Cain Was Right to Call Out the Team’s Management

Veteran Cesar Izturis beat out Brooks Conrad for an Opening Day roster spot in 2012. In the majors for the Brewers, Izturis went just 38-162 for a .235 average before being placed on waivers. Cesar has never amassed 162 at-bats in a season since then, but he has had major league stops with the Nationals and Reds.

On the other hand, Conrad went just 3-40 (.075) in the big leagues for the Milwaukee Brewers that season after a call-up in May. He was eventually claimed off waivers by the Rays, and has also appeared for the Padres in the big leagues, but to date has a career average of only .200 in the big leagues.

After a pair of roster duds in 2012, The Milwaukee Brewers seemed like they were making a solid decision when they chose to open the 2013 season with veteran Alex Gonzalez on their roster. Unfortunately for him, Alex was eventually released after going 20-113 (.177) and has only appeared in 9 big league games since.

More recently, 27-year-old Luis Jimenez made the team out of Spring Training in 2015 and looked like a promising option at 3^rd base for the Milwaukee Brewers; but Luis went 1-15 (.067) before the Brewers placed him on waivers. Luis had one at-bat for the Red Sox after that, and that did not result in a hit. He is not in the majors in 2016.

Speaking of the 2016 season, Rule 5 Pick Colin Walsh got his first Milwaukee Brewers hit today after starting out 0-10. One thing to note is that the perceived lack of success among guys making their first Opening Day roster for the crew is not limited to just hitters.

This year, Ariel Pena had one disastrous outing that resulted in an ERA of 27.00 for the appearance before he ultimately was outrighted off the roster. There is no update to his status because he has not appeared in a game for AAA as of yet.

Meanwhile, Keon Broxton has appeared in a game for Colorado Springs since he was sent down, and he went 1-3 with a stolen base.

While the Milwaukee Brewers have had some “25^th Man” guys with unimpressive results, I truly am convinced Keon will eventually prove he belongs in the big leagues.

When looking at how some other guys in the past never tasted the bigs after the Milwaukee Brewers were done with them, you have to believe that Keon still has a bright future.

With his decent career on-base percentage in the minors along with his track record of magnificent speed and even a bit of pop to go with good outfield defense, he should find his way back in the big leagues again with the Milwaukee Brewers at some point.

Look for him to “work on some things” down in the minors and come back up and find his hitting stroke. He has more talent and deserves a better fate than some of those other guys I mentioned!