Was .394 in the Minors last season, not to mention how much he ended up struggling after Matt LaPorta was traded. While I think he will be a decent regular, I think last season was a fluke. Just my opinion, but the BABIP is the main number that he has no contrl in maintaining.

He will get a look in March and, like Braun did a couple years ago, he will hit will during Spring Training but struggle mightily with the glove…forcing him to open the season at Nashville, where he will try his hand at 1B & RF. The bat stays hot and the Brewers suffer an injury or three that force their hand, deciding on about May 1, 2009 to pick up the phone and get the One-T Wonder to the show. He will play 2x a week at 1B, allowing Prince to rest a balky hamstring. He’ll also get 2-3 starts per week in RF after a M Cameron injury forces C Hart to roam the CF grounds. Maybe 5 starts total @ 3B.

His line from 5/1/09 – 7/1/09: 45 games, 135 offiicial ABs, .296/.326/.533, with 6-2B, 1-3B, 8-HR, 30 RBI…but 10 errors as he hops around the field, with 5 of those coming in as many games at the hot corner. So, despite the nice start offensively, Prince & M-Cam get healthy and Mat is shipped back to Nashville to work on the glove.

As July draws to a close, the Brew Crew ships Bill Hall to the Phillies for JC Romero, and Mat gets the call again. He finishes the season with two months of surprisingly effective defense at third and a steady diet of starts in the 7th spot in the line-up. Although the power numbers dip slightly, he remains steady at the plate and with 4 months under his belt, his line looks like this: 92 games, 290 AB, .276/.315/.490 (12-2B, 4-3B, 14-HR…58 RBI.

Just something to get the discussion going. (I was working on a spreadsheet projection while keying in the post, so apologies if any numbers didn’t transfer over perfectly.)

And for the record, I’m a Gamel fan.

Left handed without a big split and a good eye. Hits to all fields with some power. According to Don Money, he is still learning how to turn on a ball and pull it when he gets the right pitch.

While the conventional wisdom is that he has a frying pan for a glove, the Brewers minors infield instructor and Don Money both say that he has the skill to play 3rd. That may be organization spin, but Money doesn’t sound like a guy who would be good at that. He also describes him as not being that light on his feet and sometimes his footwork isn’t good and that leads to throwing errors.