The Milwaukee Brewers finished up their spring exhibition season with a pair of games against the Reds at American Family Field. Next up, the regular season. There\u2019s still so much more to learn about this team and what their plans are for the season and now that we\u2019re in those final few days before Opening Day, that picture is becoming much clearer.<\/p>\n
Manager Pat Murphy has been able to provide some more details and answers to questions that a lot of fans have been curious about.<\/p>\n
– The Brewers will be utilizing a straight platoon for the most part in centerfield to begin the year between Garrett Mitchell and Brandon Lockridge. Mitchell figures to get the lion\u2019s share of ABs given that he\u2019s a LHH that will face righties. Lockridge has done well this spring and has earned some regular playing time, but we\u2019ll see if he can carry that over to the regular season.<\/p>\n
– Speaking of Lockridge, the Brewers gave him an inning at first base to end the second exhibition against the Reds. He was getting some work in at the cold corner pre-game and it could be a spot for him to see some action this year, with Murphy noting that they need a third first baseman in the event they have to pinch-run for Andrew Vaughn. This would be similar to Andruw Monasterio\u2019s role at first base we saw last year.<\/p>\n
– As for Christian Yelich, he spent last year primarily as the DH with only a small handful of starts in the outfield. That could change this year, according to Murphy. Now another year removed from back surgery, physically he\u2019s capable of handling that kind of workload, but it will largely hinge on what happens in that centerfield platoon between Mitchell and Lockridge.<\/p>\n
Murphy noted that if that centerfield group isn\u2019t \u201coffensive enough\u201d that they could put Yelich in the outfield more often, signaling that Jackson Chourio would move from LF to CF similar to how he did last year in the absence of Mitchell.<\/p>\n
– Reliever Blake Holub pitched 1.1 IP in the first of the two exhibition games and Murphy said after the game that \u201che\u2019s a young man that doesn\u2019t realize how close he is [to the big leagues]\u201d. Holub didn\u2019t allow a run across his seven appearances this spring. He\u2019s slated to be in Triple-A Nashville\u2019s bullpen to start the year but could very quickly find himself in the big league bullpen when a need arises.<\/p>\n