Villar’s consistency gives star turn credence

SEATTLE — It’s late August, which means it’s late enough in a Major League Baseball season to, well, maybe, possibly, make sort of, relatively definitive conclusions about players based on performance.

Right?

In other words, is it about the time to somewhat safely say that Jonathan Villar is an emerging star?

The Brewers third baseman entered the season as a somewhat intriguing, somewhat young (25) player who came over in a November 2015 trade with the Astros. Villar had ascended to the big leagues in Houston at the age of 22 and shown some speed but not a lot of on-base proclivity, hence a previous career-high of 263 at-bats, achieved in 2014. That has all changed dramatically this season.

Villar has seized the hot corner and the leadoff spot and entered Sunday’s game against the Mariners with a .300/.384/.438 line, 48 stolen bases — which ranks second in the National League — 28 doubles, 43 RBIs and 66 runs scored.

Brewers manager Craig Counsell said it was impossible to know that Villar would be this good this season, but he also said there’s potential, particularly with power at the plate, for much more.

“It’s obviously happening fast,” Counsell said. “He got to the big leagues at a really young age, which I always think is telling. And he’s a player that has a lot of skills, really. I think failure in the big leagues helped him, actually. He had to learn from it a lot and make …

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