Lesser Brewers: Jean Segura

Last year's third-most-valuable Brewer finds himself among the "Lesser Brewers" in this year's ranking, but I'm not here to pile on Jean Segura.  He experienced one of the worst personal tragedies I can think of this season, losing his nine-month-old son in early July.  At the time, his son was in the Dominican Republic, about 2,000 miles away, and Segura took approximately one week off in the middle of the season to spend with family and make funeral arrangements.  So let's just acknowledge up front it was not a typical season for Segura.

That aside, Segura struggled mightily with the bat the first three months of the season, hitting just .244/.277/.333.  There were plenty of warning flags attached to the power display that had everyone raving about Segura last year, so it wasn't much of a surprise to see a precipitous decline in those numbers this year.  It was, however, a bit of a surprise to see Segura so undisciplined at the plate and making such weak contact for most of the season.  Things improved significantly at the end of the year, though; over the final two months, Segura slashed .288/.354/.341.

Segura took a step backward defensively in 2014, though he was still an adequate fielder at short.  Ultimate Zone Rating dings him slightly in every category (double play runs, range runs, and error runs), for a total UZR of -4 after last year's -1.  Segura isn't a spectacular fielder, but you probably won't hear too many fan complaints about him after the recent memories of Yuniesky Betancourt at the position.

One other notable aspect of Segura's game missing in 2014: the speed.  After converting on 77% of his stolen base opportunities last year (44/57), Segura nabbed only 20-of-29 in 2014.  It's not clear what was behind the hesitancy to steal, particularly since Segura was batting lower in the order for most of this year.

All said, Segura was still had a positive fWAR in 2014, although barely.  It was a far cry from the 3.2 fWAR he accumulated in his first full year with the Brewers.  After offering Segura an extension last offseason, the Brewers are best served taking a wait-and-see approach with their young shortstop in 2015.

Best Game

Segura had his best day by Win Probability Added on May 26, 2014.  Segura hit a go-ahead two-run double and chipped in a triple in what proved to be a losing effort:

Contract Status

Segura is arbitration eligible in 2016 and is headed for free agency in 2019.