As Brewers season approaches, focus is on the "young guys"

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The Milwaukee Brewers 2014 season is right around the corner, and this year, it seems there's a lot of focus on the "young guys."

On October 1st, 2013, Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin gave his end-of-the-year news conference, and much of the focus was on what went wrong, including pitching, a lack of scoring and Ryan Braun.

However, Melvin did focus on one positive -- the Brewers' young blood.

"If you take a look at some of the kids that came up that had the chance. They capitalized on the opportunity. Khris Davis -- I believe Davis can knock in 85 runs a year if given 500 at bats. Scooter stepped in with some big hits and played outstanding defense. Thornburg came up and had seven quality starts," Melvin said.

Melvin talked about the young guys throughout his 50-minute press conference, so we really shouldn't have been surprised when he only made a couple moves in the off-season. It seems these guys could be the start of a new era of Brewers standouts -- and Melvin hinted that could be so at Brewers On Deck.

"It's time for them. They've performed at the minor leagues, and last year, they were productive through the unfortunate Braun suspension and Hart injury. It gave opportunities to them. We tell young players that when they have the opportunity to take advantage of it and they certainly did," Melvin said.

Outfielder Logan Schaefer got the call up to the big show in 2011, and finally got to stay on the big league roster last season. He says we will continue to see progress from the up and comers.

"They're talented. We have a lot of talented young guys. They proved last year we can come up and compete," Schaefer said.

Brewers' skipper Ron Roenicke called out the "young guys" nearly a dozen times when talking with the media at Brewers On Deck, but rightfully so. His expectations are high -- specifically for Khris Davis.

"He has a chance to do some good things. He's not just a power guy. He's not up there swinging wild. He swings hard, but at the pitch he wants to see. That's the difference in a young guy. A lot of them are just up there hacking," Roenicke said.

None of the spots are guaranteed, with how great Scooter Gennett played, there's still Rickie Weeks, and with Braun back, there are five guys competing for three outfield spots -- so with all the pressure on the young guys, how are they handling it?

"Confidence-wise it does nothing. I feel ready and I'm just going to try my best out there -- bottom line," Davis said.

"Baseball's one of those sports where you have to prove yourself every day. I think we're all excited to do that at this level and contribute and win some games," Sean Halton said.