Coming into the 2014 MLB season, who would have thought that little-known second baseman Scooter Gennett would become the key to success for a Milwaukee Brewers team that has struggled to find consistency at the position over the past few years?

The correct answer is no one.

For those of you who don’t follow baseball, Scooter Gennett is a 5-foot-10, 170-pound second-year infielder for the Brewers. Gennett being small in stature isn’t a very imposing player, but he makes up with his fundamentally sound play.

Gennett is one of those players you hate to face as a pitcher. He doesn’t strike out often, he has sixteen this season, meaning he does what he needs to do to put the ball in play to get on base or simply work the pitcher for walk.

Coming into today’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Gennett is hitting .267 with a .306 on base percentage. Yes, his average doesn’t seem like much currently because of his recent slump at the plate, but during the month of April, Gennett was hitting .320 with an on base percentage near .400.

That means in April, Gennett was getting a hit at least three times for every 10 of his at bats which is something to be proud of in an age of dominant pitching.

Meanwhile, defensively is where Gennett won the position from former second baseman Rickie Weeks. Weeks is a player known for his lazy defense, and ability to swing and miss at any pitch thrown at him. On the other hand, Gennett is one of those players people call a spark plug.

Gennett is extremely quick from his dead stance at second base, making normally tough plays look routine. So far this season he has only committed two errors, as opposed to the 16 Weeks had in 2013.

My point today is every MLB team, no matter the make-up of the roster, needs a spark plug like Gennett. Someone not known for the flashy homeruns, or the fifty stolen bases, but someone who is willing to go out everyday and work as hard as they can to give their team what they need night in and night out.

Take Nyjer Morgan, also known as T-Plush, in his Brewer days for example. Wherever he goes, he finds success in being the jolt at the top of the lineup and the guy who works his tail off to fire up the bench and crowd. Morgan put a ton of fans in the seats during his year with the Brewers and drove them to their first NL Central Division win in years.

I think more teams should take the route the Brewers and many other teams have over the years and invest in a spark plug. Results have shown that it is well worth it.