Though one trip was thought to be enough, it seems that maybe another trip down to Nashville is necessary for Keston Hiura.
What’s Going On?
Sent down on May 3 after what seemed to be the beginning of the downward slump, Keston Hiura hasn’t shown much improvement upon returning. Hiura was sent to Nashville with the hopes that maybe the minor league stint would light a fire under him. While in Nashville, he hit .438/.526/.906 with a 1.433 OPS and four home runs. His strikeout rate still remained high, however. But, reading those numbers, you would think Hiura would bring that back up to the major leagues, right?
Not exactly.
Returning to the Majors
In the last three games Brewers fans have seen Hiura, they have yet to see Hiura swing the bat and put the ball into action. In the doubleheader against the Washington Nationals this past weekend, Hiura struck out three times. He was benched Sunday to maybe help clear his head. On Monday against the Detroit Tigers, he struck out once and hit a sac fly.
But still, in the month of may, Hiura is hitting .038/.107/.038. Now, we do have to remember he was in Nashville for a good portion of the month, but those numbers are from the games he’s played with the Brewers this month.
Defensively, he’s getting better, which is a plus. But there has to be improvement to both sides of the player, and it’s really difficult watching Hiura at the plate in these games when he’s just not finding the zone and not finding the correct pitches to swing at.
What To Do?
It’s difficult to know what’s going on in Hiura’s mind when at the plate. So many emotions go through a player’s head and nothing just seems to click with Keston.
He hit a slump last season and we just brushed that off to be more so of a sophomore slump. Everyone struggled in 2020, it was a strange season, but something just isn’t right with how Keston Hiura is playing. Fans were eager to see Hiura return to his 2019 self after seeing those amazing stats from Nashville; But as it turns out, it looks like those stats are going to remain down south.
Is another trip to Triple-A necessary? Will this help Keston maybe find out what’s really going on?
It ultimately was too soon to bring Hiura back up from his minor league stint. He played a couple of games, yes, but, he needs more time down there to really focus on his swing and command at the plate. He looks lost at the plate, to put it into the nicest terms. Maybe another trip down to Nashville will help; We’re fast approaching the All-Star Game and it would be nice to see Hiura represent Milwaukee.
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