NEW YORK — Milwaukee Brewers infielder Luis Urias‘ frustrating season took another turn Thursday when he was demoted to the minor leagues.
The Brewers announced before their game with the New York Mets that Urias had been optioned to Triple-A Nashville. Rookie second baseman Brice Turang rejoined the Brewers after serving his own stint in Nashville.
Urías hit .145 with a .299 on-base percentage, .236 slugging percentage, 1 homer and 5 RBIs in 20 games since returning from a hamstring injury. The 26-year-old has just three extra-base hits in 68 plate appearances.
After hitting 23 homers with 75 RBIs during the Brewers’ 2021 NL Central championship season, Urias hit .239 with a .335 on-base percentage, 16 homers and 47 RBIs in 119 games last year.
Urías injured a hamstring in the Brewers’ opener and didn’t return until June 5. He hasn’t been able to find his rhythm at the plate.
“I feel like the confidence is not where maybe it needs to be,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “What comes first — the struggling or the confidence — that’s always a hard question to answer, but Luis has been a consistent major league hitter. It’s the one thing I think he’s really good at doing is just being really good at being consistent, and we just haven’t seen that this year.”
His move to the minors opened a spot for Turang, who played strong defense at second base but struggled to hit during his previous stay in Milwaukee.
Turang, 23, hit .205 with a .254 on-base percentage, 3 homers, 14 RBIs and 9 steals in 57 games with Milwaukee. He was batting .298 with a .365 on-base percentage, 3 homers, 15 RBIs and 2 steals in 15 games with Nashville.
“There were some changes,” Turang said. “There kind of had to be. I had to figure it out a bit, and it’s been going good.”
Source: www.espn.com