Top Milwaukee Brewers Of The 2010s: #30 – #26

Our ranking of the Top 50 Milwaukee Brewers players of this past decade continues as we jump into the lower 20s now.

After working our way through the 30s and 40s, we’ve approached the final group of players from the bottom half of the list of the best Milwaukee Brewers players from the 2010s.

How We Ranked Them

We created an initial list of the top players by combining their Fangraphs Total WAR from each year they were on the Brewers and ranking them from highest to lowest.

However, this wasn’t going to be a list of simply who had the highest WAR while they were here and that’s it. So we adjusted the list based on postseason contributions, overall quality of player, and general importance to the franchise.

Our list continues.

30. OF Khris Davis

Coming in at number 30 on our countdown, is Khris Davis, more commonly known as “Khrush Davis” or “Noodle Arm Davis”, depending on if you were watching him hit or play defense.

The Milwaukee Brewers drafted Davis in the 7th round of the 2009 MLB Draft. Tales of his raw power quickly spread through the Brewers organization, and by the time he made his major league debut in 2013, fans were expecting 40 home runs a season kind of pop.

2013: 1.3 WAR

2014: 1.4 WAR

2015: 1.2 WAR

Total: 3.9 WAR

Davis appeared in 56 games in his debut season in 2013, hitting .279 with a .949 OPS and 155 OPS+. 21 of his 38 hits went for extra bases, (10 doubles, 11 home runs) and he made a huge impact in a short amount of time. The hype was real and the excitement for Davis’ ability in the middle of the Crew’s lineup was high.

While Ryan Braun was the primary left fielder, once he returned from his suspension, Braun moved over to right field full time to accommodate the defensively challenged Davis. Davis had decent range to catch fly balls and had no issues tracking them, he just couldn’t throw. All that strength and muscle for Davis helped him crush home runs but couldn’t help him throw anything better than a two-hopper into second base.

Davis continued to hit home runs in 2014 and 2015, combining for 49 total over those two seasons, but it seemed he couldn’t quite reach his full offensive potential. There should’ve been more power there and he should’ve been more than a 1.0-1.5 WAR player. Especially playing in a hitter friendly ballpark like Miller Park, he should’ve thrived, but instead plateaued.

By the end of 2015, two things had become increasingly obvious: 1) The Milwaukee Brewers were going to rebuild and trade off any valuable assets, and 2) Davis couldn’t play the outfield and needed to become a DH.

There was always that concern about Davis needing to go to the AL where he wouldn’t have to play defense. The Brewers tried everything they could to get Davis to be serviceable. They experimented with him at first base in the minors and spring training, which didn’t work. They gave him all the coaching they could on throwing, but it was a mental battle for him, as he wrote in The Players’ Tribune a few years ago.

But with new GM David Stearns taking over, he decided it would be best to move Davis to the AL where he can be a DH and it was time to move on from him as an outfielder.

Davis was traded to the Oakland A’s on February 12, 2016, just before spring training began, in exchange for RHP Bubba Derby and C Jacob Nottingham. Both were once thought of as nice prospects, but Derby has stalled out in Triple-A and has yet to make his big league debut.

Nottingham was thought to be the catcher of the future in Milwaukee, with Jonathan Lucroy soon to be on the trade block at the time. But Nottingham just hasn’t hit the ball well at all since joining the Brewers and his prospect status has plummeted, and it’s unlikely the Brewers will ever receive any positive big league contributions from either player acquired for Davis.

Meanwhile, Davis has thrived with Oakland, hitting 40+ home runs with a .247 batting average each of his first three years with the Athletics. It’s one of the few trades that the other team got the better of the Brewers under GM David Stearns.

Davis provided excitement and frustration during his time in Milwaukee, and his booming home runs are enough to land him at No. 30 on our countdown of the best Brewers of the 2010s.

29. RHP Jeremy Jeffress

The road through the majors has been a long and complicated one for Jeremy Jeffress, starting and ending with Milwaukee with all kinds of stops in between. While his results for other teams have been mixed, Jeffress always seemed to be at home when he was with the Brewers.

2010: 0.0 WAR

2014: 0.4

2015: 0.7

2016: 0.7

2017: 0.1

2018: 1.8

2019: 0.3

Total WAR: 4.0

Jeffress was a first round pick of the Brewers back in 2006. He spent the next five years trying to work his way to the majors. Making that journey much more difficult, Jeffress tested positive three times for a “drug of abuse,” which earned him two suspensions totaling 150 games. Despite the adversity, he made his debut in 2010, pitching 10 games in relief and finishing that year with a 2.70 ERA.

During that offseason, Jeffress was traded away to the Royals in a large package that famously netted the Brewers Zack Greinke and Yuniesky Betancourt for their 2011 playoff run. He spent two years in Kansas City before being designated for assignment in the offseason and being claimed by the Blue Jays. Toronto kept him around for just over a year, but eventually they also DFA’d him just three games into the 2014 season.

Jeffress went unclaimed this time and elected free agency instead of reporting to the minor leagues for Toronto. At this point the Brewers saw an opportunity to give Jeffress a second chance and signed him to a minor league contract. A return to Milwaukee was just what he needed because when he was called up to the majors in July, he went on to give up just six earned runs in 29 appearances, good for a 1.88 ERA.

The right-hander was impressive the following year as well. In 2015 he appeared in 72 games, second most of his career, and going 5-0 with a 2.65 ERA. Jeffress was on pace for a third straight solid year for the Crew, compiling an even lower 2.22 ERA through the first 47 games of 2016 and even adding 27 saves as the team’s primary closer. Unfortunately that earned him a second trade away from Milwaukee, this time with Jonathan Lucroy to the Rangers at the trade deadline for prospects.

Mixed results with Texas ended up having them trade him right back to the Brewers at the 2017 trade deadline for a third stint in Milwaukee. He finished the year well enough with the Brewers, ending up with a 3.65 ERA in 22 games to end the season. But that was just a precursor to what would be a very special following year.

As part of a deadly trio at the back end of Milwaukee’s bullpen that included Corey Knebel and Josh Hader, Jeffress had by far the best year of his career in 2018. He set career bests in appearances (73), ERA (1.29), WHIP (0.991), and strikeouts (89). The performance also earned him the only All-Star appearance of his career to date.

Unfortunately things took a turn for the worse last season as Jeffress suffered his first poor season with the Brewers. Hampered by an injury that caused him to miss the start of the season, Jeffress never quite got into his groove and escalated to a 5.02 ERA. He found himself on the Injured List again in August and with the Brewers trying to secure a playoff spot, he was designated for assignment and is a free agent.

Jeffress has had successful tenures in Milwaukee, and it appears to be the place he’s most comfortable. With his success pitching in some big games and over multiple seasons, Jeffress comes in at No. 29 on our list.

28. SS Jean Segura

Next on our list is former Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Jean Segura. Once thought of as the next great Brewers shortstop, Segura’s tenure didn’t last as long as many had hoped, but he still proved himself a great player in the early years of his career.

2012: -0.2 WAR

2013: 4.0

2014: 0.1

2015: 0.1

Total WAR: 4.0

The Brewers initially acquired Segura as the centerpiece of the second Zack Greinke trade in July 2012. After the Crew had fallen out of contention, Greinke was going to be prime rental trade target at the deadline and the Crew knew they couldn’t afford to re-sign him, so they traded him to the Angels for Segura, Johnny Hellweg, and Ariel Pina.

Segura was initially sent to Double-A, but didn’t last down there very long, being called up to make his Brewers debut on August 6th, just eight days after he was acquired. He hit .264 with the Crew in that 2012 season while playing superb defense and stealing seven bases.

2013 was the year Segura burst onto the scene. He was regarded as the top shortstop prospect in the Angels system and had plenty of talent that he finally had an opportunity to showcase. He dominated the first half of the 2013 season, hitting .325 with a .849 OPS, 11 home runs, and 27 stolen bases en route to his first career All-Star Game selection.

He struggled in the second half of that season, with a .241 batting average with just one home run the rest of the way. He finished that breakout 2013 campaign with a .294/.329/.423 slash line and 44 stolen bases. His 4.0 WAR was third-best on that team.

In 2014, his struggles carried over, hitting just .232 in the first half.

Then, tragedy struck.

Segura’s nine-month old son, Janniel, died in July 2014 back home in the Dominican Republic. He found out after one of the Crew’s games and immediately flew back home.

Of all the things that went wrong in that forgettable 2014 season, this was clearly the worst of them. Segura was never the same after that, I don’t think that clubhouse was the same after that, and it just changed everything.

Segura’s on-field struggles continued after this, and the player who was once hitting .325, could barely muster hitting .240. This continued into 2015, when the Brewers began their rebuilding process and new GM David Stearns was hired.

After such a tragic life event happened while Segura was in Milwaukee, perhaps he just couldn’t feel comfortable here, and both Segura, Stearns, and fans could tell it was time for a change of scenery.

On January 30, 2016, Segura was traded to Arizona along with Tyler Wagner in exchange for Chase Anderson, Isan Diaz, and Aaron Hill. Hill had a good 2016 season with the Crew before being traded away, Diaz was used to get Christian Yelich, and Anderson appeared at No. 32 on our countdown.

Since moving on, Segura has hit over .300 three times and signed a big contract extension with Seattle before getting traded to Philadelphia. It’s unfortunate things couldn’t work out in Milwaukee, considering how good of a player fans and coaches knew he could be, but it’s good to see him at least have that success.

26. C Manny Pina

Manny Pina, the man affectionately known as “Manny Pineapple”, who loves singing ‘Hotel California’, lands at the next spot on our list.

Originally arriving in the Brewers organization as the Player To Be Named Later in the Francisco Rodriguez deal with the Tigers, Pina made his Milwaukee Brewers debut in 2016. After Jonathan Lucroy was traded to Texas on August 1st, the Crew needed another catcher in the big leagues to go with Martin Maldonado, and Pina got the call.

2016: 0.2 WAR

2017: 1.7

2018: 1.2

2019: 1.1

Total WAR: 4.2

In the offseason between 2016 and 2017, Maldonado was traded to the Los Angeles Angels and Jett Bandy, another catcher, came back in return. With Andrew Susac also in the picture after coming over in the Will Smith trade that happened during the 2016 trade deadline, there were three catchers in the fold heading into 2017.

More from Brewers History

• Brewers: Looking at former prospects traded at the Deadline under Stearns
• Remembering Lorenzo Cain’s Top 5 Moments In A Brewers Uniform
• Ranking the Last Five Milwaukee Brewers Memorial Day Wins
• How five former Brewers are doing on their new teams
• How the Milwaukee Brewers Got Their Name

Between Pina, Bandy, and Susac, two of the three would have to separate themselves in spring training, and it ended up being Pina and Bandy. Between those two, Pina performed the best offensively and was a strong defender. He emerged as the starting catcher out of this group. He performed as nearly a two WAR player in 2017 and posted a .751 OPS in 359 plate appearances.

He was a surprising bright spot on a surprising Brewers team that finished just one win shy of a playoff spot.

Pina entered 2018 as the starting catcher, but regressed offensively, down to a .702 OPS. In that offseason, Pina signed a modest contract for $1.6 million with a $1.85 million club option for 2020, avoiding arbitration for the next year. Then the Crew went out and signed Yasmani Grandal to a one year contract.

Grandal was obviously going to be the starting catcher, and Pina went from being the starting catcher to the backup, and accepted his role without any complaint. His ABs dropped from 306 the year before to 158 in 2019.

Pina is a very strong defender, which is where most of his value comes from. He calls a good game, throws the ball well, and frames well.

He’s now in line to be the starting catcher once again with Grandal entering free agency and there’s a good chance Grandal signs elsewhere. Pina has provided solid production for a couple seasons at a premium defensive position. He’s done enough to land at No. 26 on our list.

We’ll continue to countdown our list of the Top 50 Milwaukee Brewers of the 2010s as we’ll reach the top half of our rankings later this week.