DENVER — When Brewers manager Ron Roenicke called up shortstop Jean Segura from Double-A Huntsville a week ago, he was mum on how much the hot prospect would play in his first few games with the Brewers.
Six games later and Segura has started in every game, except for Monday's contest against the Rockies, begging the question: Why take him out of the lineup?
It appeared that Segura's absence might be due to injury, after he came up limping following a slide into home against the Astros on Sunday. But Roenicke explained that the injury wasn't the sole reason for giving Segura a day off.
"He's fine," Roenicke said. "Him not playing today is not necessarily that. Somewhere I wanted him to have a day off and get Cody (Ransom) back in there for a game. I thought today was a good day to do that."
Segura had been heating up at the plate in the last few games with six hits in his four most recent games and two RBI in that span.
Asked if Segura's lack of experience with a grueling major league schedule would lead to more days off for physical purposes, Roenicke seemed confident that it wouldn't.
"Physically, he's pretty solid," Roenicke said. "I don't think physically he'll have a problem."
And considering how much more comfortable Segura has looked at the plate as of late, the young shortstop may not get many days off for the rest of the season.
"He's still rolling over some stuff that I'm sure he doesn't like doing," Roenicke said. "But I see better at-bats. I like what he's doing at short so far. I think we're all happy with what we see. He can run too. My gosh, he can run."
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