How do you think our first basemen perform as a group this year?

[RobDeer 45]

How are we all feeling about our 1B group this year?  How do you think Vaughn ends up?  

 

My friend and I were talking the other day and wishing Yelich would try playing 1B a little bit.  Didn't they mess around with that idea in the past?  Did Yelich not want to do it or was he not good over there?  

[patrickgpe]

I do not think he will do as well as he did last season, that would be hard to do. I do think he will be fine though. I see Bauers still getting clutch homers and being a competent backup. 

[liveforoctober]

So last year between Hoskins/Vaughn/Bauers Brewers' at bats (not counting Mona and others) ... they combined for a 2.9 WAR at 1B. I do know that number is a little funny for a few reasons (Bauers in LF, etc)

I would put that as the benchmark for the group this year again and I have relative confidence they will get that production. Limit Bauers' AB against LHP - but keep Vaughn rested. I don't expect Vaughn to hit .300 again or even close to it ... but whatever alteration the Brewers made to him AND getting him out of that White Sox situation clearly changed the player and I would be pretty stunned if he cratered all the way back to his CWS numbers.

[wiguy94]

3 minutes ago, liveforoctober said:

So last year between Hoskins/Vaughn/Bauers Brewers' at bats (not counting Mona and others) ... they combined for a 2.9 WAR at 1B. I do know that number is a little funny for a few reasons (Bauers in LF, etc)

I would put that as the benchmark for the group this year again and I have relative confidence they will get that production. Limit Bauers' AB against LHP - but keep Vaughn rested. I don't expect Vaughn to hit .300 again or even close to it ... but whatever alteration the Brewers made to him AND getting him out of that White Sox situation clearly changed the player and I would be pretty stunned if he cratered all the way back to his CWS numbers.

Purely based on their 1B production so no PH, DH, LF, RF they combined for 3.0 fWAR in 662 PA. That 3.0 fWAR was 10th in MLB and it also came with a 123 wRC+ which was also 10th best.

[torts]

1B mvp

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, liveforoctober said:

So last year between Hoskins/Vaughn/Bauers Brewers' at bats (not counting Mona and others) ... they combined for a 2.9 WAR at 1B. I do know that number is a little funny for a few reasons (Bauers in LF, etc)

I would put that as the benchmark for the group this year again and I have relative confidence they will get that production. Limit Bauers' AB against LHP - but keep Vaughn rested. I don't expect Vaughn to hit .300 again or even close to it ... but whatever alteration the Brewers made to him AND getting him out of that White Sox situation clearly changed the player and I would be pretty stunned if he cratered all the way back to his CWS numbers.

I think they unlocked something with Vaughn last season. Many of his best ABs ignored the '1B profile' of getting out in front & driving the ball out of the ballpark, and the pitches he got that he COULD pull largely were a byproduct of that mindset. If he can stay on that track, be willing to take walks & concentrate on contact he'll once again be an important asset (but I agree he's unlikely to hit .300). 

The soft platoon w/Bauers feels good to me. The ABs Bauers put up after coming off the IL was an impressive story in itself.

[Lathund]

Make good use of the platoon spltis of Vaughn and Bauers, and I'll put the 50th percentile (Or most likely, or median, or o/u) around 115-120 wRC+. That's basically Vaughns career split vs LHP, and Bauers 2025 split vs RHP. So given that it doesn't include the changes he made as a Brewer, it probably underestimates Vaughn a bit. And while I believe in the changes Bauers made (And whatever it was the Brewers sought to unlock when they traded for him) the sample size is very small, and might overrate him. 

But yeah, I think that we can go into the season with a realistic expectation of solidly above-average production from 1B. I don't see any real benefit from Yelich moving to 1B now. All it'd do right now is to push the current 1B to DH more, and might as well keep Yelich DHing. After 2026 Bauers will be a free agent and Vaughn will be expensive and likely traded. That might be a time to start considering it. But that's also when you'd expect Burke, Adams and Fischer to be ready. Decent chance at least one of them looks good enough that you'd want to give them a chance. I expect Yelich will remain a DH and (very) occasional LF for the rest of his Brewers tenure. 

[Outlander]

Not real confident they can hit the 3 WAR mark as a group again. However, with Vaughn in his prime and Bauers in his walk year, maybe they can do it one more time 

[TURBO]

Honestly, I think it's all up to Vaughn.  If he has a good solid year, we are probably ok.  If he tanks (and that is a complete possibility) and we have to rely on Bauers more than a platoon situation, we are in deep trouble.

Personally, I hate the idea of Bauers as a starter in any regard, I simply don't think he is an answer. 

Andrew Vaughn or bust!

 

[CheezWizHed]

With Vaughn, I think you have to partially ignore his 2025 season both with the CHI-SOX and the Brewers.  Both look a bit like outliers.  I'd guess an OPS around 750 would be his floor.  Wouldn't surprise me to see him around 800 if the move to the Brewers did have any specific benefit to him (team, coaching, approach, the fans 😉)

A soft platoon with Bauers certainly helped him by avoiding the tougher RHPs.  

I'd wager that the pair can easily exceed 2 WAR this year.  3WAR even seems like a low bar.

Yelich is not a 1B.  Time to let it go.