Weeks carries one title, wears many hats

PHOENIX -- Rickie Weeks is everywhere at Brewers Spring Training.

He's on the back fields -- watching sim games, running fielding practices, working with the hitters. He's in the dugout -- taking on the bench coach role in games. He's in the clubhouse -- working behind the scenes, advising new manager Pat Murphy and helping the Brewers develop and evaluate their players.

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That's the life of an associate manager.

"Basically, in a role like this, you've got to be a jack-of-all-trades," Weeks said Saturday before the Brewers’ 11-3 loss to a Dodgers split squad. "It's just being a set of eyes for the manager."

Weeks has a couple of weeks of Spring Training under his belt. Soon enough, the real games will start. But Weeks' transition into the associate manager role that Milwaukee created for him -- and is starting to become a trend around Major League Baseball -- has gone off without a hitch.

That's a testament to Weeks' time as both a player in Milwaukee and an assistant in player development there over the past two years, which has created a thorough familiarity with all facets of the Brewers organization.

"It's smooth. It's baseball. Honestly, it's just baseball," Weeks said. "I played 14, 15 years; I was in the office for two years. And in the office, you learn a lot of the numbers, you learn a lot of information, things like that. You learn information, and then besides that, bring your experience and knowledge of the game. Match up the information you learn and mesh them together."

Weeks' combination of playing experience and front-office experience makes him the perfect liaison to communicate with players in the modern game. And the fact nearly all of that experience has come with the Brewers -- where Weeks was a homegrown All-Star second baseman who was drafted No. 2 overall by Milwaukee in 2003 and played 11 seasons for the team before he was brought back into the fold after his retirement -- makes him the perfect person to play an integral role in shaping the team's direction in 2024.

"He's been wonderful," Murphy said last week. "I say this over and over: He impacts people. He's got great presence. That impact is needed right now for these young guys, [for them] to be able to hang onto something and keep it simple."

That's why at Spring Training, Weeks doesn't have just one focus.

"As of right now, you've got your hands in a little bit of everything," Weeks said.

During the games, the associate manager functions as the Brewers' bench coach. ("It's the same thing," Weeks said.) But most of Spring Training happens outside the games, and there, Weeks' duties are much more wide-ranging. Milwaukee's vision for Weeks as associate manager is to coordinate the team's hitting operation.

"He's kind of going to be in charge of our whole offensive production," Murphy said. "Instead of putting all the onus on the hitting guys, we're going to have a team of people -- kind of like what they do with football staffs. We're going to have an offensive team, and Rickie's going to head up that team. Deliver the message, if you will."

The first step is providing feedback toward all the roster decisions the Brewers will have to make before the regular season begins. Moving into the regular season, Milwaukee will also depend on Weeks to help game-plan and convey information to the players.

"It's just being a leader in the room, hopefully," Weeks said. "Trying to work with all of our guys, and trying to develop a plan for our hitters. Right now, in Spring Training, it's about evaluating players and making sure the roster fits and the right players are on the roster. That's where I'm an extra set of eyes. But I think going forward, in-season, you've got advance reports, you've got plans for the hitter for that day, you've got everything that assists with bringing a message to the players. That's pretty much my job right there."

Weeks is already doing it all. When the regular season starts, he's going to be doing even more. But his dual set of experiences with the Brewers over the past two decades have prepared him for this.

"It's an easy transition," Weeks said. "I know a lot of these guys, especially the young guys, I've seen them, down through the years in the Minor Leagues. And the older guys, too. I wasn't just on the player development side in the front office, I was on the Major League Baseball team, as well."