This Brewers player has gone nearly a month without a hit. Here's what he's trying to do.
CHICAGO – There hasn't been much good news for Vinny Capra on the field for the Milwaukee Brewers in the past month, but there is at least this: He isn't quite threatening Craig Counsell's infamous record for difficulties at the plate yet.
Capra’s current streak of 28 consecutive at-bats without a hit still more than a stone’s throw away from the single-season mark of futility set by Counsell in 2011 of 45 at-bats, which tied the all-time MLB record. Nor is Capra’s drought even worse than Counsell’s streak of 34 hitless at-bats in 2004 (yes, the Whitefish Bay native owns two of the separate longest hitting droughts in franchise history).
But it doesn’t mean the past month's struggles been any easier to swallow for Capra.
“Of course it’s difficult,” Capra said. “You want to do anything you can to help win and when you’re put in situations and haven’t been able to do so, it’s a difficult thing.”
Through 41 at-bats this year, Capra is batting .073 with a .283 OPS. He opened the season with three hits in his first 11 ABs before his streak began on April 2.
“My heart goes out to Vinny, because he's a great kid who had a great spring, solidified himself on the team,” manager Pat Murphy said. “He's been a great defender for us. He opened good and he's played sparingly. When you're a young player – young in terms of experience – and you don't play very much, and you're in and out of there, it's really hard to get going.”
As Capra sat at his locker at Rate Field on Tuesday and discussed his frigid April that has seen him go nearly the full month without a hit, he was really not that far removed – in real life terms, at least – from a torrid spring training in which he was tied for the Cactus League lead with six home runs. His memorable opening day home run, the first and only of his career to this point, was all of 33 days prior. But within the confines of a baseball calendar, one month can feel like an eternity.
“I just got to continue to trust the process,” Capra said. “I obviously haven’t been the greatest right now. I’m obviously not complacent with that. There’s some things that I have to work on to get back to where I need to be.”
For one, Capra feels that he’s rushing through his movements at the plate. He’s been going through video of his at-bats from spring to try and reacquaint himself of what he looked like when everything was going right at the plate.
“You go back to your success and you see what you were doing,” Capra said. “I hit fastballs. I hit off-speed. I had that adjustability. So I look back at the mechanics and see what’s changed, what’s been different. Moves are being sped up a bit and I didn’t realize it.”
Capra has had difficulties in particular with off-speed pitches, going hitless against the 39 he’s seen with six strikeouts and a .093 expected batting average on the eight balls he’s put into play.
“Getting pitched off-speed, we have to adjust to that,” he said. “Part of that is there’s a bit of a mechanical thing I had to clean up. A lot of it is still hunting the right pitches and sitting fastball and adjusting off-speed. I know I can hit off-speed. It’s not a problem. Some things are just breaking down. It’s just fine-tuning those things to get back to where I need to be.”
Capra’s playing time was reduced significantly once the Brewers promoted Caleb Durbin on April 18, which effectively turned a platoon between Capra and Oliver Dunn into a full-time role for Durbin. But while it’s a minor role, struggles at the plate of this magnitude In the meantime have naturally led to questions from the outside about Capra’s spot on the roster.
“Right now, we value (Vinny) because of our depth in the minor leagues, meaning (it’s) not enough,” Murphy said when asked about the decision to keep Capra up. “We value having the ability to have somebody to play backup shortstop. So in the meantime, that's to his benefit. He possibly can get going here, get on track because the numbers for a backup player anywhere in the big leagues, a pinch hitter, backup player, the numbers don't matter. It's the reliability and the defensive ability.
“So that's where we're at with it. Obviously, all players are being discussed.”
A cursory glance at the roster for the Class AAA Nashville Sounds shows what Murphy is talking about.
Andruw Monasterio is the lone 40-man roster infielder currently with Nashville, and though his bat would most likely currently be an upgrade over Capra’s – his .750 OPS overall isn’t anything spectacular but he’s 16 for his last 45 with four homers – the depth beyond that is thin. And because choosing to move on from Capra would require the Brewers to designate him for assignment, that could potentially leave the Brewers even more shorthanded in terms of depth. Dunn hasn’t exactly gotten going at Nashville yet, batting .152 since being sent down, and Raynel Delgado, the next-most viable shortstop candidate, also isn’t hitting (.559 OPS).
Thus, Capra’s big-league chance with the Brewers continues. Both sides would surely love to see it turn around soon.
Longest hitless streaks in Brewers history
- Craig Counsell, 2011- 45 AB
- Greg Vaughn, 1990 - 38 AB
- Rick Auerbach, 1972 - 36 AB
- Craig Counsell, 2004 - 34 AB
- Ted Kubiak, 1971 - 33 AB
- Jim Gantner, 1985 - 32 AB
- Rob Ellis, 1971 - 31 AB
- Keston Hiura, 2020-21 - 31 AB
- J.J. Hardy, 2009 - 30 AB
- Geoff Jenkins, 2005 - 29 AB
- Vinny Capra, 2025 - 28 AB
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