Keston Hiura’s High Number

Topps Heritage High Number, for me, is series 2 or update series of Topps Heritage. It’s a cool brand for fans, particularly those who like throwback design. There are 24 packs in a hobby box, one hit per box, however, the hit is most likely a relic card. If you would like to get an autograph, it might be better to consider other brands or you have to be really lucky. I usually buy a few packs every year and try to find some good rookies cards or short print cards. I will be extremely surprised if I get an autograph card since it’s obvious that the possibility is really low. I got a Keston Hiura rookie card. For me, that’s pretty good since he’s one of the top rookies last season. Keston Hiura was called up in May 2019, playing 81 games last season. He impressively hit .303/.368/.570 in his first season with the Milwaukee Brewers. It’s great to find a top rookie card in the pack. Since it’s in the “high number” series, let’s look at some “high numbers” of Keston Hiura’s first MLB season.

Keston Hiura had 348 plate appearances last season. According to statcast, his average exit velocity was 91.4 mph, ranking 25th in the league. His average exit velocity in the 2019 season was slightly higher than the average exit velocity of several great hitters such as Juan Soto, J.D. Martinez and former MVP Bryce Harper.

Rank	Player	Average Exit Velocity (mph)
1	Aaron Judge	95.9
2	Miguel Sano	94.4
#
22	Ryan McMahon	91.4
23	Danny Santana	91.4
24	J.D. Davis	91.4
25	Keston Hiura	91.4
26	Shin-Soo Choo	91.3
27	Juan Soto	91.3
28	J.D. Martinez	91.3
29	Bryce Harper	91.3

Meanwhile, Keston Hiura’s hard hit rate was 50%, top 10 in the league. It did show that he could hit the ball well and could be an elite hitter. Keston Hiura is only 23 and under team control for the next five seasons. He won’t become a free agent until after the 2025 season. He is probably going to be the cornerstone in second base.

Rank	Player	Hard Hit %
1	Miguel Sano	57.2%
2	Aaron Judge	57.1%
3	Nelson Cruz	51.5%
4	Kyle Schwarber	51.2%
5	Franmil Reyes	51.0%
6	Matt Olson	50.3%
7	Keston Hiura	50.0%
8	Josh Donaldson	50.0%
9	Mitch Garver	50.0%
10	Jorge Soler	49.9%

Nonetheless, there are some other high numbers. Keston Hiura’s strikeout rate was 30.7%. The conception of a higher strikeout rate has been changed. Christian Yelich’s strikeout rate was 20.3% last season. Can Keston make good contacts more consistently?

Rank	Player	SO % (Min PA: 300)
1	Chris Davis	39.5%
2	Miguel Sano	36.2%
#
16	Tim Beckham	31.1%
17	Keston Hiura	30.7%
18	Rougned Odor	30.6%

Finally, let’s look at Keston Hiura’s defense. Among second basemen, he committed most errors. 16 errors in 81 games, Keston Hiura finished with a .949 fielding percentage. The number of errors will be a number that Keston Hiura and the Brewers would like to decrease in the new season. Simply put, he needs to improve his defense.

Rank	Player	Errors
1	Keston Hiura	16
2	Rougned Odor	15
3	Jonathan Schoop	14
4	Jurickson Profar	13
5	Ryan McMahon	13

Keston Hiura already showed that he could hit last season. There is no doubt that he could be a good hitter since we saw “high numbers” of his hitting performance. High exit velocity and hard hit rate both indicate that he’s on the top of the league. However, 16 errors in 81 games seem to be too high. Keston will have to show that his defense is improving when baseball returns. It’s not possible to see a 162-game regular season this year. However, it’ll be definitely to see whether Keston Hiura will show even higher numbers on his hitting in a full season.