the club since he first came up in 2008 as its seventh-best prospect. Each year seems to be the one in which management and fans alike think Gamel will break out and force himself into Milwaukee's plans, but it hasn't happened yet.

Offensively, Gamel doesn't have much to learn down in Triple-A. Over the last three seasons, he has played 162 games in Nashville, hitting 25 home runs, driving in 118 runs, and batting .293/.375/.489. It's been a different story in Milwaukee, though. Counting the two games he played with the Brewers in a September 2008 call-up, Gamel has put up a .241/.335/.414 line in only 75 games across three seasons. He played in just 12 major league games in all of 2010.

Gamel's lack of a true position canexplain some of that away. Nominally a third baseman, his awful defense (an .887 fielding percentage in his minor-league career) has the Brewers desperately seeking a place for him to play. Before experiencing another injury-related setback this spring, he was penciled in to get time at all four corner positions. Unfortunately for him, the Brewers have a very resilient group of players manning those positions. Prince Fielder, for example, played 98% of the Brewers' innings last year as the first baseman, relinquishing the bag for only 28 innings all season. Braun and McGehee each played in 92% of the team's innings at their respective positions. Only Hart, who has had a small problem with staying healthy throughout his career, played in fewer than 90% of the team's innings