Young Brewers Hitters Kept Team in Wild Card Series. Can Veteran Sluggers Get On Their Level?

[Jack Stern]

A youth movement has kept the Brewers' season alive by offsetting underwhelming performances from more experienced players. Will the veteran bats help punch a ticket to the Division Series?

Image courtesy of © Mark Hoffman/USA Today Network via Imagn Images

The Brewers saved their season with a dramatic win on Wednesday night. Trailing 3-2 in the eighth with the back of the Mets’ bullpen taking over, Milwaukee stormed back with a three-run inning against Phil Maton. Jackson Chourio slugged his second homer of the game to tie it, and Garrett Mitchell’s two-run shot minutes later was the dagger.

It’s the young hitters who have kept the Brewers from a second consecutive sweep in the Wild Card Series. Five players with fewer than two qualified seasons of playing time – Chourio, Mitchell, Brice Turang, Sal Frelick, and Blake Perkins – have combined to slash .467/.469/.900 with seven extra-base hits in the first two games of the series.

“It’s pretty cool,” Pat Murphy said after the game. “When you think of Turang and Ortiz and Sal and Perkins and ‘Jack-Jack,’ these guys are freshmen. Mitchell is the older guy of the group, but he really doesn’t have a full year of service in terms of games played. It’s pretty special watching these guys excel on the big stage.”

Their performance has picked up the rest of the team, which has hit .139/.184/.139. That includes a group of more experienced veterans whom many would have seen as the most likely sparks in the lineup.

Willy Adames is 1-for-7, and popped out in all three of his at-bats on Tuesday. Rhys Hoskins is hitless and bounced into a rally-killing double play in the third inning that same night. William Contreras has just two singles in eight at-bats.

In the field, a pair of veteran pitchers have committed the most egregious misplays. Joel Payamps did not break immediately to cover first base when Jose Iglesias grounded to Hoskins in Game 1. Just over 24 hours later, Frankie Montas reached the base but dropped the feed from Hoskins. Both plays should have been routine outs; they instead opened the door to rallies that gave New York the lead.

Murphy has frequently issued reminders of the youth of his roster, after games in which the Brewers did not execute well enough to win. That reminder was noticeably absent after their uncharacteristic performance on Tuesday, because it was not applicable. The veterans made most of the mistakes.

Two games is a microscopic sample. It’s not predictive of a hitter’s performance the following night. Baseball is also a unique sport, because it’s configured in a way that welcomes contributions from varying and often unlikely sources. A successful team finds ways to win games without production from its most prominent players.

The Brewers did it on Wednesday night, although Adames’s first hit of the series proved impactful by prolonging the inning for Mitchell. Milwaukee will be in an even better position to advance to the Division Series if he, Contreras, and Hoskins bring more to the table in Game 3.

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