Should the Brewers Give Keston Hiura Another Shot?

The idea of calling Keston Hiura up again has been a hot topic amongst Brewers fans. There has been a lot of healthy debate on the topic. This article is going to cover the argument for why Hiura should be called up and the argument for why Hiura shouldn’t be called up. Then all fans can make their own educated decision on the matter. 

Why Keston Hiura Should NOT Be Called Up

The Brewers’ main weakness on offense is that they struggle against left-handed pitching. The Brewers' whole team currently has a .607 OPS and a .207/.274/.333 slash line against the Southpaws. This is good for one of the lowest ranks in the league. 

Keston Hiura fits right in with every other player on the Brewers because he also can’t hit left-handed pitching. Hiura had a .188 batting average against lefties in 2022. So the argument here is that Hiura would not make a difference because the Brewers’ main weakness offensively is their lack of ability to hit left-handed pitching. Hiura wouldn’t help in that regard.

Strikeouts are still an issue for Hiura as well with 30 of them in 96 at-bats this year for the Sounds.

Why Keston Hiura SHOULD Be Called Up

Keston Hiura recently won his third Player of the Week award in AAA. After nearly being traded this offseason the former first-round pick has been hitting the cover off the ball. Hiura is slashing an insane .330/.388/.714 for the Nashville Sounds to start this year. More impressively, Hiura has done a lot of this damage against left-handed pitching. Hiura is slashing an uncharacteristic .333/.394/.733 against left-handed pitching so far this year.

Additionally, Luke Voit, who was supposed to replace Keston Hiura, has been struggling. What’s the main contributor to Luke Voit’s struggles? You guessed it, left-handed pitching. Luke Voit has a .038 batting average against left-handed pitching this season. Voit and Hiura both have this in common. They both have historically struggled against left-handed pitching and dealt most of their damage at the plate against the right-handers.

However after making a splash in AAA and showing major improvement against left handed pitching Keston Hiura has made Brewers fans do a double take. Hiura has never hit southpaws like this at any level making many believe he might have improved this skill somehow. 

Voit and Hiura are similar offensively anyway and Hiura is showing improvement against left handed pitching so it seems wise to give Hiura a chance to prove this increase production is legit and potentially have a major improvement offensively. 

What All Brewers Fans Can Agree On

While not all Brewers fans agree on Keston Hiura everyone is in agreement that the Brewers need to improve against left-handed pitching. It’s clear the Brewers may need to shake things up a little so they can be more competitive against Southpaws. We shall see what the Brewers decide to do with Hiura and how they go about fixing this clear weak link in the roster.