Is the Crew really in the best shape of its life?

PHOENIX -- Keston Hiura is in the best shape of his life.

“I mean, I feel like if I say I’m not in the best shape of my life at 23,” said the Brewers' hitting savant, “that would be pretty sad.”

Brent Suter is in the best shape of his life. Devin Williams is in the best shape of his life, too. Both Brewers relievers endured the year-long rehab that follows Tommy John surgery, when cardio can provide an escape. Jacob Nottingham is in the best shape of his life. He’s a 24-year-old catcher who worked out over the winter with Ryan Braun and Christian Yelich at a gym in Los Angeles. Outfielder Keon Broxton is so confident he’s in the best shape of his life, he said so while sipping a can of soda.

Freddy Peralta spent the winter strengthening his core and his legs and is in the best shape of his life, even if he felt “weird” admitting it. Infielder Eric Sogard is in the best shape of his life, wearing 10 more pounds of muscle on his upper body than he carried when he last wore a Brewers uniform in 2018. Manny Piña is in the best shape of his life, a good place to be for a catcher who turns 33 in June. Ronny Rodríguez is in the best shape of his life as he chases an Opening Day spot as a utility man.

Justin Smoak is in the best shape of his life. He thought he reached the pinnacle a few years ago after eating nothing but meat and vegetables and reporting to Spring Training stronger than ever. But Smoak felt constantly short of energy and endured the worst year of his career. Now, he knows better.

Josh Hader is in the best shape of his life. He would have said the same thing last spring, too, and hopes to say the same thing again a year from now.

“I’m right here,” said Hader while holding out a hand at eye level, “and the stock market’s going up.”

It’s a cliché so prevalent in Spring Training -- “Best Shape Of His Life” -- that there’s a Twitter account (@BSOHLTracker) dedicated to it, and not one but two hashtags to keep track of, depending on whether one prefers “his” (#BSOHL) or “my” (#BSOML) in one’s life. As camps convened around baseball, countless players showed up lighter or heavier or quicker or stronger, depending on the goal.

It was true in Brewers camp, as you may have noticed over the past two weeks. Shelby Miller dropped 30 pounds in a bid to resurrect his career. Lorenzo Cain cut out late-night cake and ice cream and dropped a dozen pounds to take some stress off his legs.

With Cactus League games set to begin Saturday, it seemed like the right time to corner as many Brewers players as possible to pose a question:

Are you in the best shape of your life?

If they answered yes, score it a 10. Only a handful of the 46 players surveyed were willing to give themselves a perfect score. Most thought back to the Minor Leagues or perhaps their college days -- junior year of college was the consensus sweet spot for Best Shape of My Life -- so we asked the player to rank his current shape on a scale of 1-10. That idea came from Miller, who said he was a 7.5 or 8.0, and thus created the official Best Shape Of His Life Scale (BSOHLS).

We rounded up and gave Miller the 8.0.

And after polling the clubhouse, here’s the wholly unscientific result:

The Milwaukee Brewers checked into Spring Training at a collective 8.7.

“Hey, I’ll take it,” said organizational newcomer Ryon Healy. “If we have a room full of eights, we’re going to win.”

“But I don’t think anybody is going to come out and say a one or a two,” said veteran infielder Jedd Gyorko.

He’s seen it before, however.

“Heck, I’ve been a one or a two at some point,” Gyorko said. “I like to eat. It’s easy to get carried away in the big leagues. It can happen quick.”

Healy and Gyorko both scored themselves 8.0. That was the most common answer. Outfield prospect Corey Ray said it over the objections of Nottingham, who pointed out Ray’s 4 percent body fat. Infielder Lucas Erceg is an 8.0 and rising thanks to his girlfriend, a Pilates instructor. Last year’s first-round Draft pick, Ethan Small, scored himself “8.2 but trending upward” as he adds muscle to his 23-year-old frame. The newest Brewer, 31-year-old Brock Holt, scored 8.7. The most precise reading came from reliever Bobby Wahl, who gave himself an 8.73 after a year of hard rehab from knee surgery.

That’s the sort of scientific accuracy that this endeavor deserves.

“Mark it an eight, dude,” said Yelich. “I just had the flu a week ago, so absolutely not [a 10]. I was in pretty good athletic shape, ready to go for a season. I would say the best shape of my life was right before my first Spring Training with the Brewers. I’d had a long offseason without a lot of distractions. Now, coming off the flu and coming off a [knee] injury, it’s a little bit different. But I’m definitely in good enough shape.

“It’s definitely a cliché -- ‘I’m in the best shape of my life’ But it’s true for some guys. Some guys make drastic changes in the offseason, maybe alter their routine a little bit. Some guys say it and probably don’t realize they say it. I guess I’m not one of them.”

And Braun?

“I would say I feel great with where I’m at physically,” said Braun, the team’s elder statesman at 36. “I’m definitely in better shape than I’ve been in years. It’s so hard for anyone to remember what they felt like 5-10 years ago, but I would say half of every locker room shows up in the best shape of their lives, and there are objective ways to analyze it now, right? They have measured our body composition every year since we showed up. It would be interesting to actually look at those things and see who is actually in the best shape of their lives.”

Braun was bullish. He gave himself a 9.9.

Sometimes injuries were in the way of a perfect 10. Tyrone Taylor is coming back from left wrist surgery and won’t be ready for Opening Day, so he gave himself an 8.5. Infielder Luis Urías had surgery for a broken hamate bone in his left hand and is questionable for Opening Day. But his body feels good, so he gave himself an 8.0.

Then there was the reliever trio of David Phelps, Corey Knebel and Eric Yardley. While they all said they were not in the best shape of their entire lives, they were in the best shape possible for this particular point in their time of life.

Phelps is 33 years old. Yardley is 29. Knebel is 28.

“I actually went back to my college,” said Yardley, “and was talking to guys and telling them, ‘If you think you’re ever going to see 100 percent ever again, you’re wrong. You’re not ever going to see 100 percent again, so get used to pitching or playing at 75, 80, 90 percent. And on those days you’re 90 percent, live it up.”

Said Knebel, who is coming off Tommy John surgery: “I think the best shape of my life was in college. But I’m in the best shape I can be in at 28 years old. I’ve got good weight, good body fat, good strength, I’m flexible compared to years past.”

And Phelps: “Maybe we’re in The Best Shape of Right Now. I sometimes laugh when I hear people say ‘Best Shape Of My Life.’ Of course you go into spring in the best shape of your life. But now you’re in for an eight-month teardown. It’s not about how you feel when you get here, it’s about how you feel in August.”

Left-hander Eric Lauer created his own category: Incomplete. He reported to Padres camp last year a muscular 230 pounds and thought he was in the best shape of his life. But the weight fell off his frame as the season progressed, all the way down to 205 pounds. It felt more natural, so Lauer stayed there over the winter.

Was it the right call? Lauer isn’t sure. Thus, he was the only player to ask for an extension before submitting his entry for the BSOHLS.

“I’ll know if that was the right decision when spring is over,” Lauer said.

“It depends what you’re looking for,” said veteran left-hander Brett Anderson. “Do you mean like going to the beach and taking your shirt off? Or pitching?”

“When I think of best shape of my life,” said All-Star Brandon Woodruff, “I’m thinking six-pack.”

Let’s go with pitching shape instead.

Baseball shape.

Anderson pondered a moment and gave himself a 9.0. Woodruff said 7.5. But both said they are thrilled with their conditioning. (No one, for the record, scored themselves lower than 6.0.)

“This is the best shape I’ve been in camp since I’ve been coming,” Woodruff said. “I get a kick out of seeing guys say, 'best shape ever.' I saw Lo [Cain] say he cut out cake and all this stuff. I do pay attention to that kind of stuff.”

It’s true. Cain wanted to be lighter on his feet after suffering knee and ankle injuries at the end of last year, so he conquered his biggest vice: Late-night cake and ice cream.

“I would say 2015 was my best year for being in shape,” Cain said. “This is my second-best.”

He rated himself an eight or a nine. We marked him down as an 8.5.

“I’m still working,” Cain said.

In fact, everyone was still working. Avisaíl García, the Brewers’ new mountain of an outfielder, scored himself a modest 7.0 but said he would be a 10 by Opening Day.

And another outfielder, Taylor, offered an interesting point as players adjusted to the aches and pains of the first few days of full-squad workouts.

“I always laugh a little when everybody comes into camp saying, ‘Yeah, man, I’m in the best shape of my life,’” Taylor said. “Then you get out on the field and feel your hamstrings the next day and go, ‘Oh, [no]!’ Baseball shape is different, man. Everyone is getting reminded of that right now.”