Milwaukee Brewers: Why is Brice Turang in Major League camp?

Milwaukee Brewers 2018 first round draft pick Brice Turang was still in high school at this time last year. Why is he spending time in Major League camp?

Brice Turang has already made a positive first impression in Milwaukee Brewers camp. He may only be 19-years old, but he’s already picked up his first hit, scored a run, and made a solid defensive play in Spring Training with the Brewers. But why is Turang getting a chance to play at the highest level?

What happened to get Turang his chance?

Milwaukee Brewers prospect Mauricio Dubon is a ‘full go’ after recovering from a torn ACL suffered in early 2018, but he does need a few days off to get over an illness. The Brewers needed an extra infielder with Dubon unavailable, and they chose to go with Turang.

How was Turang’s first appearance with the Brewers?

It went about as well as could be expected for a guy who was in still in high school as recently as last Spring. Turang replaced Eric Thames in the seventh inning of Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels. He slid over to shortstop, while Jacob Nottingham replaced Cory Spangenberg and played first base.

He only had to wait two batters before a ball came his way, and he made a solid stop, and fired the ball over to first for the second out of the inning.

At the plate, he went 1-for-1 with a line drive single in the ninth inning, and scored on a double by Lucas Erceg.

When will Turang make his real Major League debut?

It’s going to be a while.

Turang enjoyed a solid season at Rookie ball last year, but he’s got a long way to go before hes going to put on a Milwaukee Brewers uniform and play in the Majors. He slashed .283/.396/.352 in 42 games at baseball’s lowest level last year. The .396 OBP is promising, but the .352 SLG shows that his in-game power has a ways to go. He looks like he’ll stick in the middle infield, but there’s a few seasons of development that he has to go through before he reaches Milwaukee. He passed his first test on Monday, but the final exam is a few years off still.