Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell finally had enough of Jonathan Villar’s baserunning mistakes. After pulling Villar from the game on Wednesday, he held the Brewers shortstop out of the lineup on Thursday in the teams 6-4 win over Arizona.
Counsell doesn’t want Villar to become a tentative player, one of the reasons why he had such a long leash to begin with. But when Villar was caught trying to steal third base with two outs and the Brewers trailing 6-0 with Jonathan Lucroy at the plate, well that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Villar’s 36 stolen bases is tied for the major league lead, so he’s helped the Brewers offense greatly this season. Counsell would like to see Villar continue to thrive on the bases, but do so with a little better judgment.
Villar is expected to be back in the starting lineup when the Brewers open a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight. The Brewers are hoping Villar, with a chance to step back and analyze the situation, will learn from this and be smarter on the bases.