Milwaukee Brewers: Mauricio Dubon Future Second Baseman

About a month ago, Reviewing the Brew checked in on one of the the Milwaukee Brewers top prospects, Mauricio Dubon.

At that point in time, Mauricio Dubon was hitting .295, and pacing the Southern League in steals.  Over the past month, we’ve seen an extended slump and then injury for Jonathan Villar, and the hottest hot streak from Eric Sogard, which have both served to reveal that second base might be a weakness for the Milwaukee Brewers.

While Dubon will certainly be a September call up because of advanced hitting skills and tremendous speed, the organization is likely looking at him as much more than a bench player long term.

At the end of 2016, Jonathan Villar looked like he was a long term keeper for the Brewers.  In fact many saw him as one of the most valuable players in the National League. His ability to hit for power and steal bases made him look a lot like a budget version of Jose Altuve.

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Unfortunately,  his swing and miss tendencies, mixed with his ability to run into outs on the base path hurt his reputation quickly in 2017.  Villar still has a ton of value, but doesn’t look as sure fire like a long term star as he did at the beginning of the season.  On top of that, Villar has not demonstrated above average defensive skills at 2B.

Likewise, Sogard, while obviously the coolest guy ever to play in the majors—he was once nearly voted the face of the MLB by the fans in 2014 —has been playing way above his career stats. Sogard is a free agent at the end of the season, and David Stearns likely doesn’t see him as a long term solution.

Mauricio Dubon plays excellent defense, runs the bases very, very well, shows an excellent hit tool, and like Orlando Arcia, shows extra base power in the ability to spray the ball to all fields.  It is the hope that with more growth, and more experience, that his doubles will turn into homers in the majors.

Afterall, he did hit six homeruns in 250 ab’s at AA last year, a 15 HR pace.  Throughout his time in the minors, Dubon has been viewed as a utility prospect, but it seems like he might get a chance at some point in 2018 to start at 2B for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Next: Domingo Santana vs. Michael Conforto

It’s hard to say what the Milwaukee Brewers off season will look like between 2017-2018, but based on what David Stearns has done in the past, trading older talent to acquire younger players to make the window to compete longer seems likely.  Could the Milwaukee Brewers move Villar to open a space for Dubon? It would make sense considering past moves.