Feb. 26 Brewers spring training notes

Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell joked that he always wonders why he's not asked who is going to bat fifth in his lineup as it is always posed on who be atop the lineup.

So... just who will bat leadoff for the Brewers?

"I haven't really looked at it honestly. I'm going to wait on that. I'm not going to close out anybody, rule out anybody from that spot," Counsell said.

Although upon thinking about it, he did add "I don't think Chris Carter will hit there. I don't think Ryan will hit there. That's all I'm going to eliminate."

Counsell didn't set any specific qualifications for his leadoff hitter, although he himself batted first in a lineup more often than any other spot in the order (454 times he started and led off a game, nearly 200 games more than any other spot in the lineup).

Normally, a team will put someone with a high on-base percentage and or a lot of speed at the top of the order.

Last season, the Brewers had four players with a .350 or better on-base percentage. Three -- Gerardo Parra (.369), Jason Rogers (.367) and Adam Lind (.360) -- are no longer with the team. The other is Braun (.356). The next-highest returning on-base percentage is .345 by Domingo Santana, who might seem an odd fit for the top with his power and propensity to strike out.

But Counsell said he just wants production.

We got to figure out how the pieces fit together. It's how they fit together for us to score runs, that's how I think about it, at least," he said. "You want the guys who are going good to get up there a lot. You want the guys who are going to produce to get up there a lot."

Last season, after Carlos Gomez and Parra were dealt, Scooter Gennett, Jean Segura and Shane Peterson were all used as leadoff hitters. Segura is now with Arizona and Peterson is in camp, but not on the 40-man roster.

Gennett could be a candidate, seeing as how he had a .356 on-base percentage as a rookie in 2013 and has a career .337 OBP in the minors. However, he's struggled to hit lefties and his OBP the past two years has been .320 and .294.

Catchers batting leadoff doesn't happen very often, but Jonathan Lucroy could be an interesting choice. He owns a career .340 OBP, including .373 just two years ago. Infielder Aaron Hill also won't bring speed to the top of the order and while he has struggled the past two seasons to get on base, he did have a .360 OBP in 2012 and .356 in 2013.

A good bet would be shortstop Jonathan Villar, who offers good speed (42 steals in 56 chances) and had a .339 OBP last season and .337 in his minor-league career.

Finally, there is the mystery center fielder, whoever that might be.

Last season in the minors, Keon Broxton had 39 steals and a .357 OBP. The year before that, 25 steals and a .369 OBP. However, he also strikes out a lot (987 times in 3,009 minor-league at bats). Likewise, Rymer Liriano has gotten on base in the minors (the last four seasons: .365, .350, .362, .383) and can swipe a base (190 over seven seasons), but also strikes out often (132 last season; 752 in 2,750 at-bats overall).

Kirk Nieuwenhuis has a .350 career minor-league OBP while Eric Young Jr., who is non-roster invitee to camp, is known for his speed.

New rule: Major League Baseball instituted a new rule to eliminate takeout slides while also removing the phantom play at second base. As a former middle infielder, Counsell offered his perspective on the changes.

"This is my initial thought, like similar to any rule change there's a transition for the middle infielders, certainly. It changes a little rhythm of what they're thinking," he said. "Major-league middle infielder are so talented that they will make that adjustment but it does put that little extra piece on them that they have to be on the base, it's going to force them to make an adjustment."

Coaching 'em up: Counsell praised new pitching coach Derek Johnson on his ability to relate to the players. "One of Derek's strengths is he's able to take the very complex world of pitching and deliver it in a very simple message," Counsell said.

Say cheese: Friday was photo day for the players, which Counsell said was one of the "rites of passage of spring training," along with the security meeting, which Milwaukee will have Saturday. Players also get their baseball card pictures taken, although Counsell thinks that was a bigger deal back when he was coming up.

The baseball card stuff... if you're here you have a baseball card (already)," Counsell explained. "It was a big deal, as I remember my first big-league camp, that first baseball card, it's symbolic. There's still firsts here for these guys, but I think they're probably different firsts than baseball cards because the prospects lists have taken over and those guys all get cards."