Milwaukee Brewers: Should Keon Broxton Make The Playoff Roster?

Keon Broxton has made an impact as a bench player for the Milwaukee Brewers this season. But has he done enough to earn a spot on the playoff roster?

After going over Eric Thames‘ candidacy for the postseason roster, the next player we’re going to look at is Keon Broxton.

There’s likely only one bench spot open and up for grabs for the Milwaukee Brewers. With Erik Kratz, Hernan Perez, Curtis Granderson, and Orlando Arcia all but guaranteed to have a spot on the roster, there’s room for a maximum of one more player on the bench.

How Is Broxton Playing This Year?

It’s been an up and down season once again for Keon Broxton. He started off strong after getting promoted back to the big league roster, but he’s struggled to a .188/.300/.406 slash line. His on-base percentage and slugging percentage are actually in pretty good shape considering how rarely he gets base hits.

Of his 13 base hits, seven have gone for extra bases, including three home runs. Broxton also has five stolen bases on the season.

He’s only accumulated 80 plate appearances this season, a far cry from the 463 he earned last year as the nearly everyday center fielder. But even after his time in Colorado Springs, he hasn’t been able to improve his skills at the plate.

Broxton has proven himself to be a great defender in his limited opportunities this year. Despite only getting called up in late June and playing sparingly over the last month and a half, Keon has a 1.5 WAR this year. Most of that was accumulated during a series against the Reds where he almost single-handedly won a couple games for the Crew.

Could He Make The Playoff Roster?

I can definitely see Broxton getting the last spot on the bench for the playoff roster. Despite having Curtis Granderson and Hernan Perez who could cover backup duties in the outfield, Broxton could earn that spot due to his tremendous speed and baserunning ability.

He’s been used primarily as a defensive replacement late in games recently and that’s what he likely would be in the playoffs. That will also likely come about after pinch running for someone when the Milwaukee Brewers need some speed on the basepaths.

While he likely would not be a strong pinch hitting option, keeping Broxton on the roster as the speedy pinch-running specialist makes a lot of sense.

The Milwaukee Brewers still need to clinch their playoff spot officially, but as things stand right now, Fangraphs gives the Crew a 98% chance of making the playoffs.