[BirdWatcher]

Tanner Yurek, at age 28, has been the Brewers starting secondbaseman for the past 5 seasons. After suffering through a miserable 1968 campaign, Yurek bounced back nicely in 1969, though not to the level of his breakthrough 1967 season, when he put up 6.0 WAR. The team would like to see him put up extra-base hits numbers more like his first three seasons, when he hit over 20 doubles 3 times and over 20 HR's twice (with 16 the other season) but management was very glad to see him basically even out his walks and strikeouts numbers this season. Yurek remains one of the better OBP guys in the lineup. He also seems to have a knack for the dramatic, having hit many of the most memorable walk-off-HR's in Brewers history as well as being the only man in WPK history to have a 4-HR game. (He also has a 3-HR game- the only player in league history to have 2 games of 3 or more HR's in his career.) This might also help explain why Yurek is the favorite of Brewer's fans. Yurek is signed through the 1973 season and pretty much owns this position for the foreseeable future.
In 1969 he was backed-up by defensive whiz Juan Lujan, who also showed a little skill with the bat. Yurek is not a bad defender, but in the Brewers infield he is the weakest link, and having Lujan around for late-inning defense is a real strength for the team. (Lujan also gives shortstop Chad Brown breathers with very little drop off in defense.)

The most promising second base prospect in the minors is Jonathon Koch, who was #48 on the WPK Top 100 Prospects list for 1969. Koch profiles as a fine defender with great range and knack for turning the dp as well as a good contact hitter with plus gap power. He does need to work on his plate discipline a bit in terms of drawing walks, but he is already pretty hard to strike out and it is thought he might develop into an impossible man to K eventually.