23-year old righty swinging shortstop Alcides Escobar played so well after a late season call up in 2009 that the Brewers felt safe in trading J.J. Hardy to the Twins over the winter for CF Carlos Gomez. Escobar played in 38 games in 2009 for the Brewers and he was 38 of 125 (.304 avg, .701 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 1 homer, 11 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. This season though, Escobar has been a disappointment. He has played in 122 games this year for the Brewers and he is 108 of 431 (.251 avg, .645 OPS) with 54 runs scored, 3 homers, 38 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. The Brewers need more from Escobar if he is going to be considered the SS of the future.

26-year old lefty swinging 1B Prince Fielder is in his free agent walk year and he might be putting too much pressure on himself. He has played in 40 games for the Brewers this season and he is 42 of 154 (.273 avg, .813 OPS) with 25 runs scored, 6 homers, 18 RBIs and he has whiffed 42 times. The Brewers must get Fielder going with the bat because they aren’t going to score enough runs without him hitting at his usual level. Ryan Braun and Casey McGehee can’t do it all for the Brewers who will likely trade Fielder if they can’t re-sign him before July and the team keeps doing poorly.

The Brewers new they weren’t going to get much hitting out of the catcher position in 2010. But, they didn’t expect the catchers to combine to go 0 for 14 (.000 avg) with 1 run scored and 2 RBIs through the first four games. I expect Gregg Zaun to hit around .250 without much power so I think he will start hitting some soon. George Kottaras has more power and he’s younger than Zaun but he will likely hit under .250 this season. The Brewers hope the catchers start hitting soon because so far it’s like they are using two pitchers in the starting lineup.

The Brewers need 24-year old lefty swinging 3B Mat Gamel to step up. They refused to trade him the last couple of months so he needs to reward their faith in him. He was the Brewers’ #2 rated prospect coming into this season according to Baseball America. Gamel played in 75 games in AAA-ball this season and he was 76 for 273 (.278 avg, .840 OPS) with 42 runs scored, 11 homers and 48 RBIs. But he whiffed 89 times in AAA showing a lot of holes in his swing. Gamel has also played in 55 games for the Brewers this year and he is 28 for 121 (.231 avg, .717 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 4 homers and 16 RBIs. Gamel has whiffed a stunning 51 times this season for the Brewers which is way too many for a player like him. With Casey McGahee ahead of him at 3B and Taylor Green behind him Gamel has to step up or lose his place with the Brewers.

Bill Hall has been whining and crying since the day Russell Branyan has been called up. Hall is now in a strict platoon with Branyan which means he’s only playing against lefty starting pitchers. If he just would keep his mouth shut and start playing better he might be able to get his starting job back. Remember though, Hall has only had one really good season in his major league career (2006) so it’s starting to look like it was a huge fluke. Hall has played in 59 games for the Brewers this season and he is 45 for 204 (.221 avg, .686 OPS) with 22 runs scored, 9 homers, 25 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He has also whiffed 57 times this season which is way too many. Russell Branyan might be Hall’s biggest problem right now as he has come up to the Brewers swinging. He has played in 14 games this season for the Brewers and he is 12 for 44 (.273 avg, 1.116 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 6 homers and 9 RBIs. He has whiffed 18 times this season but that goes with the territory if you want to play Branyan a lot.