Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
The Milwaukee Brewers are currently on a seven-game win streak that could very well turn into 10 victories in a row after their series against the San Diego Padres. Even though the Brewers are the hottest team in Major League Baseball right now, Roenicke decided to change up the batting order.
Roenicke finally got smart and decided to place catcher Jonathan Lucroy in the cleanup spot behind Ryan Braun. The reason why this is a great idea is because second baseman Rickie Weeks has provided little production in one of the most critical spots in the batting order. Ironically, Weeks was hitting very well before the change was made after Aramis Ramirez went down with a sprained knee.
Weeks was batting .400 with one home run, one RBI and five runs in 15 at-bats while batting second. In 43 at-bats in the cleanup spot, the 30-year-old posted a .093 batting average with two RBI and a whopping 20 strikeouts. Obviously, Roenicke took quite a long time to realize taking Weeks out of the No. 2 spot was a bad move.
Lucroy only recorded one hit in five at-bats in the cleanup spot this season. However, considering he is on fire at the plate recently, the change will be for the better.
Hopefully, Roenicke did not change up the batting order just for Monday’s contest because Norichika Aoki has the night off. Despite how batters No. 1 through No. 4 performs tonight, this is a batting order that needs to stay the same. Putting Weeks or Jean Segura in the fifth spot when Aoki suits up is not going to harm the team.
The following is Milwaukee’s lineup in the first game of the series against San Diego:
Shortstop: Jean Segura
Second Base: Rickie Weeks
Left Field: Ryan Braun
Catcher: Jonathan Lucroy
Right Field: Logan Schafer
Center Field: Carlos Gomez
First Base: Yuniesky Betancourt
Third Base: Alex Gonzalez
Pitcher: Kyle Lohse
Michael Terrill is a Senior Writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @MichaelTerrill, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
