According to Gary D’Amato, Jonathan Villar is Carlos Gomez 2.0, a player who just needed someone to believe in him and give him a chance. Credit: Calvin Mattheis

Jonathan Villar runs the bases with his hair on fire, brings an infectious energy to the ballpark, fields his position with dazzling athleticism and quite often is standing on second base about 30 seconds after he reaches first — that is, if he hasn't made an adventurous out on the base paths.

Sounds an awful lot like a centerfielder who played for the Brewers not long ago, doesn't it?

One-third of the way through the 2016 season, Villar has been a revelation. He's played well enough, long enough that this can't be a fluke. He's Carlos Gomez 2.0, a player who just needed someone to believe in him and give him a chance.

"When the player gets an opportunity, it's on him to make the most of the opportunity," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "He's done that. We told him going into spring training, 'Hey, look, you're the shortstop, so let's see it. This is your chance.' He's done it. He's gotten his chance and he's done it."

Has he ever. Villar, who turned 25 on May 2, went 0 for 3 but walked and scored a run Wednesday in the Brewers' 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. He has reached base safely in 29 of his last 30 games, leads the National League in stolen bases and ranks in the top 10 in doubles, walks and on-base percentage.

In May, the native of the Dominican Republic batted .355 with 16 runs batted in, 14 stolen bases, 20 walks, 16 runs scored and a .450 on-base percentage.

A utility man who had 589 at-bats in three seasons in Houston, Villar has unexpectedly blossomed into a legitimate candidate for the All-Star Game.

"I'm playing hard for that," he said in the clubhouse before the game. "I like to try. My family is happy if I go to the All-Star Game. That would be good."

Villar has played so well that the Brewers are in no rush to promote minor-league phenom Orlando Arcia. If Villar was the stopgap at the start of the season, he has long since shed that label.

"We're two months into the season and it's a pretty good stretch of performance now," Counsell said. "Every player is going to have ups and downs, but this has been a really long, good stretch. A great stretch. It's turning into consistency, really.

"The quality of the at-bats has continued. That's the big thing. The at-bats haven't deviated — the ball-strike recognition, laying off tough pitches — that, to me, is what has been really impressive and has continued day in and day out."

Like Gomez before him, Villar knows only one speed and has made some base-running blunders to go along with his 19 steals. But he unnerves pitchers with his aggressiveness and gives players hitting behind him a chance to see more fastballs. Bounce a curve in the dirt, and Villar is 90 feet closer to home plate.

It's a trade off Counsell will take every day.

"There are base runners who just stand there and go station to station and we don't talk about them ever," he said. "But you've got to remember they're not adding anything, either, right?"

Villar does have to improve his decision-making on the base paths, but to put handcuffs (or, perhaps more to the point, shackles) on him would be a mistake.

"That's my game," he said. "I play like that in the minor leagues. We come here and it's the same game."

Domingo Santana was the Brewers' primary leadoff hitter until a lingering shoulder injury forced him out of the lineup two weeks ago. That experiment is over. Villar, who'd batted up and down the order — second, seventh, eighth and ninth — is at the top to stay.

"Craig Counsell come to me and say, 'If you play like that every day, you play right here for a lot of years,'" Villar said of the leadoff spot.

Eventually, the Brewers will call up Arcia and Villar will be asked to play another position, most likely third base but possibly second.

"He can play anywhere," Counsell said.

Villar, however, isn't crazy about the idea of moving.

"I play great at shortstop," he said. "I want to play every year at the shortstop. They tell me, 'You can play other positions.' I tell them, 'I don't know.' Because that's my position. I like that position. I play third base six years ago. Now I don't feel comfortable. At shortstop, I feel good.

"I don't know what's going to happen in the future. We never know. I can only play hard now."

Send email to gdamato@journalsentinel.com.