:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/5704779/20120226_lbm__ar5_188.jpg)
Today we tackle the middle infield, and it's pretty neat to talk about the Brewer middle infield and not talk about Yuniesky Betancourt. In fact this sentence is the final time I will mention Mr. Betancourt in this post, and hopefully the final time I ever mention him in this space.
Rickie Weeks
2010: .266/.366/.464, 754 PA
2011: .269/.350/.468, 515 PA
ZiPS: .260/.350/.460, 517 PA
RotoChamp: .261/.352/.457, 599 PA
We've reached the stage in his career where Rickie is a legitimate star if he can put in a full season of playing time. He's becoming more and more of a power threat, as many people expected early in his career, and his defense has matured to the point where it's average or better. It's been overlooked a bit but the Brewers have a nice in-house source of improvement if Rickie can have 650+ plate appearances this year, people tend to forget that he missed a significant amount of time last year.
Alex Gonzalez
2010: .254/.294/.447, 640 PA
2011: .241/.270/.372, 593 PA
ZiPS: .245/.282/.399, 524 PA
RotoChamp: .241/.276/.381, 540 PA
Gonzalez is no wizard with the bat but things should at least be better than last year. He still has some pop, he hit 23 and 15 home runs in the past two seasons, and he spent 2011 in Atlanta, a park that's tough on righty power. His career OBP is only .291 so don't expect anything too special, but I have a feeling this fanbase will just be very happy to see an above-average defender in the field. Anything with the bat will be a bonus.
We're not going to bother projecting the backups, who I assume will be some combination of Brooks Conrad, Jeff Bianchi, Taylor Green, and Cesar Izturis. If you want to project them for fun, go ahead in the comments.
Projection form is below the jump.