Prior to their matinee action on Wednesday, the Brewers placed shortstop Willy Adames on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 16, due to a high left ankle sprain. The Brewers initially hoped to avoid such a move with Adames, but ultimately decided this was the best course of action. As a corresponding move, infielder Keston Hiura was recalled from the minors.
With Adames going down, the first-place Brewers lose one of their most productive power hitters this season. He's hitting .208/.304/.462 (117 OPS+) with six doubles, nine homers, 24 RBI and 23 runs so far. His nine homers are tied for the NL lead. He also leads the Brewers' position players with 1.1 WAR on the young season.
With Adames out, Luis Urías takes over as the everyday shortstop. He's started there the last two games and again gets the start at short on Wednesday.
Hiura coming back from the minors after only a few weeks down is notable. There's such big upside in his bat, but he's been unable to repeat the success of his rookie year, when he hit .303 with a 138 OPS+ and 19 homers in 84 games. Since then, in 485 MLB plate appearances, Hiura has hit .194/.282/.363 with 182 strikeouts in 427 at-bats. He went 7 for 12 with three homers and nine RBI in his last three games for Triple-A Nashville, for whatever that is worth.
If Hiura can ever put things together at the big-league level at the plate, he'd provide a huge boost for the offense. He's still only 25 years old, so it isn't too late, but the sample of his failures to this point is a lot bigger than his successes.
The Brewers enter Wednesday with a 2 1/2 game lead over the Cardinals in the NL Central.
