Top Milwaukee Brewers prospect Keston Hiura making the most of his opportunity

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

PHOENIX – Keston Hiura smiled when asked if he was surprised at how long he has remained in the Milwaukee Brewers’ spring camp.

“From the beginning, I didn’t know if I’d even be in big-league camp,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect. I’m excited just to be here.”

A year ago, the 21-year-old second baseman was playing in his junior season at Cal-Irvine, where an ailing elbow limited him to DH duty. That limitation did not prevent the Brewers from taking Hiura in the first round of the June draft (ninth overall) and giving him a $4 million signing bonus.

After a successful pro debut split between the Arizona Rookie League and Class A Wisconsin (.371 batting average with 14 doubles, seven triples, four homers and 33 RBI), Hiura was invited to the Brewers’ spring camp. It was an unexpected opportunity and the general assumption was that his stay would be short with limited action.

CAMP REPORT:Jesús Aguilar's home run in the seventh lifts Brewers

BOX SCORE:Brewers 4, Rangers 3

But Hiura’s first camp has been much more than that. He has seen action in 14 games, batting .400 (10 for 25) with a .983 OPS. Not too shabby for a player with 42 games of pro experience.

“Keston has had a nice camp,” said manager Craig Counsell, who explained that Hiura’s prolonged stay with the Brewers has been a function of the need for more infielders. “He was in college a year ago, and he’s holding his own without a couple hundred professional at-bats.

“The second-base play is probably what I’m more happy at than the hitting. His second-base play has been really clean for the last couple of weeks. That’s probably what he’s a little farther behind on, so that’s what has been most impressive to me.”

The plan is to send Hiura to advanced Class A Carolina to begin the 2018 season with hopes of moving him up to Class AA Biloxi at some point of the year. That might sound like an ambitious itinerary but that’s how confident the Brewers are in Hiura’s offensive skills.

Before he's sent across the parking lot at Maryvale Baseball Park to the minor-league camp, Hiura intends to soak up as much knowledge as possible and enjoy the experience of playing with established major leaguers while contributing to winning games, whether they count or not.

“You always want to do well,” he said. “In your first spring training, it’s all about impressions. I’d like to leave a mark to show them who I am. All the guys have been great to me. I’ve talked to a lot of them about playing second base, and things like that.

“Every day that goes by, you’re just happy to learn from these guys and work with them. For however long I’m here, I just want to take the most advantage of it and enjoy it. I don’t know what other teams are like, but you can feel the energy and camaraderie of this team.

“I’m fortunate to be part of it. Baseball is supposed to be fun, and everybody has fun here."