The saga of Keston Hiura hardly needs repeating around these parts, but the ninth overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft continues to cling onto his MLB dream. His latest bite at the apple will come with the reigning back-to-back champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are signing the 29-year-old to a MiLB deal with an invite to Spring Training.

Keston Hiura, Dodgers agree to minors deal. MLB camp invite.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 12, 2026

It’s hard to know exactly where Hiura fits into the Dodgers’ infield picture. Earlier in the day, they extended Max Muncy and re-signed utility man Kiké Hernández. Nevertheless, Hiura, who has played 18 MLB games over the past three seasons combined, will try and defy the odds to crack their Opening Day roster.

Keston Hiura continues post-Brewers MLB journey after signing deal with Dodgers

There was a time not too long ago that Hiura once seemed like the next great Brewers infielder. A consensus top-50 prospect in the sport prior to 2018, Hiura received his fair share of top-10 rankings before the 2019 season began. He was the undisputed best prospect in the farm system at the time, and the supposed future at second base in Milwaukee.

Of course, that future never materialized. A brilliant rookie season in 2019 (139 wRC+, 19 homers in 84 games) gave way to a disastrous stretch, where Hiura led the league in strikeouts in 2020 and posted a 53 wRC+ in 2021.

Despite a relative rebound the following year, Hiura had clearly lost favor with the Crew’s braintrust. Though he was tendered a contract for the 2023 season, he failed to make the Opening Day roster in spring training, getting waived and outrighted to Triple-A after the team signed Luke Voit.

Since then, he’s spent time with the Los Angeles Angels and Colorado Rockies, though not for very long. He went 4-for-27 in Los Angeles in 2024 and managed to draw just 18 at-bats for the historically dismal Rockies last year. It’s impressive that he’s been able to stick around the top level of baseball this long, but his career was already hanging on for dear life when he signed in Colorado last year.

More than likely, Hiura won’t make the Dodgers’ MLB team and will instead spend most of the season at Triple-A as he has for the past three years. That’s not an indictment on a roster as loaded as theirs is, but it’s also difficult to imagine a path for the former top prospect to make his way back to the majors. He’d have to beat out (or wait for injuries to) Hernandez, Tommy Edman, Alex Freeland, and Miguel Rojas just to get a spot on the bench.

If Brewers fans are hoping to get another glimpse of Hiura in 2026, odds are they’ll have to do so in Spring Training when the Crew takes on the Dodgers on March 9 and 16.