Your thoughts on Milam at SS

Lot's of chatter lately about Milam at SS. The whole crew on Mikie Mahtook show believes he will start there. Jay Johnson, who was on the show, mentioned that Milam was his best defender and wanted to see him on the left side.

Here are my thoughts and observations. Milam, Braswell and Dickinson all belong at 2B and that is probably where they will be in the pros. Milam is a very good defender but probably has some limitations on his arm and range. I do believe they are adequate enough that he could play SS at a high level, but there are limitations. Braswell played SS last year and Jay has mentioned they have worked on some things to improve his defense. I believe Braswell could also play SS at a high level but has his limitations as well. Dickinson, not surprisingly, played SS in highschool but mostly played 2B in college before LSU.

I went out early to watch the players practice before the fall scrimmages started. Milam, Hogg, Dickinson and another player that I can't remember were taking grounders from the SS position. Dickinson had like three errors in about 20 attempts and my thoughts were "no way is he going to be our SS". When the scrimmages started in the fall, it was mostly Dickinson getting the first looks and he did look a lot better. I remember him making a couple of nice double plays and showing some range. He is faster than Braswell and Milam. The only error that I recall him making in the fall actually came from 2B.

Milam was supposed to get some time on the left side of the infield towards the end of fall, but got sick and was shut down before that ever materialized.

So I have a lot of questions. I didn't see Dickinson play much 3B in the fall if he played any. Is 3B an option for Dickinson? If Dickinson isn't an option at 3B and Jay has some concerns about him at SS that would put him at 2B by default. That would mean Milam and Braswell at SS and 3B. Perhaps Jay feels Braswell is better suited at 3B than Milam which would put Milam at SS almost by default.

Then we have the question "Is Milam a better SS than Braswell?" Jay obviously didn't feel he was last year, but things change in a year. Jay did mention on the show that Milam was his best defender.

I expect Jay to tinker with the different combinations early in the year before actually settling on an answer. I personally feel that when the dust settles, it will be Dickinson at 3B, Braswell at SS and Milam at 2B. I do have to admit it will be exciting to see Milam play SS and maybe he exceeds my expectations there.

It's going to be fun to see this play out and I was curious of what you guys are seeing and predicting.