Lesser Brewers: Nyjer Morgan

MVBrewers is a player-by-player look at the most valuable members of the 2012 Brewers, as voted on by you. Here's our top ten:

1. Ryan Braun
2. Aramis Ramirez
3. Yovani Gallardo
4. Corey Hart
5. Norichika Aoki
6. Jonathan Lucroy
7. Carlos Gomez
8. Zack Greinke
9. Marco Estrada
10: Mike Fiers

Honorable Mentions: Martin Maldonado, Rickie Weeks, Jim Henderson, Mark Rogers, Shaun Marcum, Wily Peralta, Jean Segura, Jose Veras, John Axford, Francisco Rodriguez

Lesser Brewers: Nyjer Morgan

The series now continues with Lesser Brewers, to cover some of the remaining Brewers that we have not covered so far. This is the first installment in that segment. The series will continue tomorrow with the second of the Lesser Brewers. You can see all the player profiles in the Most Valuable Brewers 2012 section.

I also apologize for the delay on today's profile. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get this posted at the regular time due to our schedules. Tomorrow's will be released at the normal time.

Nyjer Morgan was coming off of a big 2011 season. He had earned himself the bulk of playing time in center field thanks to his batting against right-handed pitching. He provided a needed boost to the Brewers offense in 2011, and was a fan-favorite thanks to his antics. His biggest moment came during the 2011 postseason, when he had the game-winning RBI single in Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS.

Coming in to 2012, the Brewers were hoping to get a similar performance from Morgan. However, his season did not start well. He hit .182/.224/.182 in April, didn't record his first extra-base hit until May 12, and didn't record his first RBI until June 1 (a span of 45 games and 138 plate appearances without an RBI). While his batting line slowly came up during the season, it never got to same point it was at in 2011.

As Carlos Gomez continued to improve, that also worked against Nyjer Morgan. His playing time slowly decreased over the season, as his starts and plate appearances dropped. Here is a table that shows the decline:

In the end, it was a rough season overall for Nyjer Morgan. He played his way out of the starting lineup and had to settle for a bench role during the Brewers run to end the season. The Brewers had some good moments with Morgan, but his 2012 season will be one to forget.

Best Game

On July 30, Nyjer Morgan got one of his few starts in the second half of the season and made the most of it. He went 2-for-4 on the day, hitting a home run with two RBI and two runs scored. His home run started a seventh-inning rally that would take the Brewers from down 3-0 to a 4-3 lead. He also hit into a fielder's choice in the eighth but all runners would end up safe, and that also sparked a rally to take the Brewers from a 4-4 tie to an 8-4 lead. The bullpen made it interesting in the ninth, but the Brewers held on for an 8-7 win.

Here's a video of Morgan's two-run home run:

Contract Status

Nyjer Morgan was outrighted to Nashville earlier in the offseason and elected to become a free agent. The Brewers have made no indication that they plan to re-sign him.