Yes, Brewers fans, Scooter Gennett is now the best second baseman in the National League (and ex-Brewers are also helping Mariners)

JR Radcliffe | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

This may bring Milwaukee Brewers fans heartburn, but yes, castoff Scooter Gennett is now the best second baseman in the National League.

Heading into Thursday, when the Brewers face Cincinnati in a four-game road series, Gennett had a .336 batting average, .375 on-base percentage, .534 slugging percentage and .909 OPS, all tops among qualified batters at the position by a wide margin.

With 3.2 wins above replacement, he leads the league in Offensive WAR and he's 10 points higher than Atlanta's Nick Markakis for the league lead in batting average regardless of position.

He's one of the 10 best regardless of position in OPS. He has 13 home runs, 53 RBIs and has even dropped his strikeout rate from past years.

There's no getting around it; he'd look pretty good if he was still in a Brewers uniform on a team that has struggled to find middle-infield options. Brewers fans should comfort themselves with the knowledge that a former waiver claim (Jesus Aguilar) leads the NL in slugging percentage, the bullpen has been electric and the team's three top off-season acquisitions (Lorenzo Cain, Christian Yelich, Jhoulys Chacin) have all been productive.

Fan voting to select the starters at the All-Star Game continues through July 5, and Gennett had accumulated 1,166,288 votes as of the most recent ballot update June 25, good for third place. He's trailing Ozzie Albies of the Braves (1,408,469) and Javier Baez of the Cubs (1,186,243) but remains in striking distance.

There's even some buzz that Gennett will contend to give the Reds their first 200-hit season since the 1977 Big Red Machine. Gennett already has a place with some of those memorable players in the Reds Hall of Fame at Great American Ball Park after hitting four home runs in a game last year.

And while we're on the subject of bygone Brewers ...

Segura is an MVP candidate for the Mariners

Seattle became the fourth American League team to reach 50 wins on Wednesday (by comparison, a 46-win Brewers team is the best in the NL), and the Mariners have a serious infusion of ex-Brewers leading the charge.

Jean Segura entered Thursday batting .338, second in the AL only to Houston's own MVP candidate: Jose Altuve (.345). Segura owns a very respectable .850 OPS for a shortstop, and he's been a big reason why the Mariners have maintained a high level of play despite losing Robinson Cano to a lengthy suspension.

Segura, Milwaukee fans may forget, actually picked up a small handful of MVP votes in 2016 with the Arizona Diamondbacks after the Brewers traded him along with Tyler Wagner for Chase Anderson, Aaron Hill and Isan Diaz.

It's not as if that trade has been a loss for Milwaukee. Anderson has become a staple in the rotation, notably during a sensational 2017. Hill was later traded for Aaron Wilkerson (a quality Class AAA arm who also spent time in the big leagues last year) and Wendell Rijo (who was just sent to the Yankees to complete the Erik Kratz acquisition). Diaz was a key component of the deal that landed the Brewers Yelich.

If anyone is kicking themselves for letting Segura go elsewhere, it's Arizona. The Diamondbacks shipped him and Mitch Haniger (another former Brewers farmhand who has been lighting it up in Seattle) for Taijuan Walker and Ketel Marte, two players who have been fine but not stars.

Haniger, who initially went to the Diamondbacks when the Brewers traded for Gerardo Parra, has an .847 OPS with 16 home runs and 59 RBIs. Milwaukee selected him 38th overall (first round) in the 2012 MLB draft.

And then, there is Nelson Cruz, one of Milwaukee fans' favorite "ones that got away." Even in his age-37 year, he's got a .924 OPS and a whopping 20 home runs with 48 RBIs. That's tied for fourth in home runs in the American League. One of Seattle's outfielders, Ben Gamel, is the brother of ex-Brewers prospect Mat Gamel.