Yesterday, Craig Counsell announced that Travis Shaw will be back with the team starting next Tuesday. Shaw is currently in Triple-A trying to find his stroke again after being a complete mess all season. Many are speculating that the move to be made will be Keston Hiura for Shaw. This move will leave Brewers fans with a sour taste in their mouth, but it is the right move to make for now. It does weaken the Brewers bench, and with no question, it is put up or shut up time for Shaw and Jesus Aguilar.

Brewers have their hands tied with the roster at the moment. They’re not going to ship down Corbin Burnes for Shaw and crowd their infield. They do not have enough positions for the players if they were to make that move. Mike Moustakas and Orlando Arica need to play every day, then you worry about who gets time at the other two infield positions. There would be five guys for two positions, and that seems a bit excessive. It also seems like a rash decision to DFA a player like Aguilar who was an All-Star last season and would hurt the Brewers lineup against left-handed pitching. Hiura is the only move to make sadly, but the presence of him should be enough pressure.

Shaw and Aguilar need to find their strokes, period. It is not one of those things where you can wait on these guys to perform at their best. Now, former Brewers like Aramis Ramirez was a notable slow-starter then got hot when the summer months started to cook. June 1st was known as ‘Aramis Ramirez Day’ for when he started to hit the ball. Let’s hope that the same thing happens for one or two of these guys.

As for Hiura, I know he’ll be back this year and in the mix at the latest by September. He will be a contributor to this ball club this season as well as next year. This is only the beginning. For us to be upset about Shaw returning seems a bit foolish to me.

Charlie.