Milwaukee Brewers: Why was April a month of errors and shutouts?

With 25 team errors through the first month of 2018 baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers rank second ahead the Yankees. The good news is that they’re still behind the Rangers (27). Fans hope the trend does not continue. However, history does tend to repeat itself.

Talented Bats vs. Shutouts

Put aside the errors on the field for a minute, and you will see that the very talented bats on the Milwaukee Brewers have been silenced six times in the first month of the 2018 season. When was the last time that happened?

When looking at the first 32 games of the season, it only happened once in 2017 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Shutouts in six games through the first month is not something fans are happy about.

Seeing those shutouts come against the Cubs this season was particularly hard to watch. The bats are certainly better than that and have to pull more weight since the bullpen is really clicking.

Fielding Errors Too Common

If you ask any baseball fan which position records the most errors, they are likely to reply with shortstop or second base. Those two positions get the most chances at the ball, so there are many more changes to mess the play up.

Orlando Arcia and Jonathan Villar have five and four errors, respectively. That might not seem like a lot, but in the most recent years, one or both have been on the top of that list by the end of the season.

In 2017, Arcia had 20 errors while Villar had 15. For 2016, Villar recorded a total of 29 errors at two different positions when he played shortstop and third base. It’s baseball. The sport is fast paced and, in some cases, has a lot of moving parts, so errors are just a part of the game.

Next: Corey Knebel Is Back In Milwaukee

When a team is near the top of the “errors committed” leader board, fans are going to notice. So far this season, the bullpen has been doing a great job of holding off runs in the late innings. All of that work is for nothing if the bats cannot bring the runners around to score late in the game.