William Contreras is Healthy, and Brewers' Do-Everything Superstar Catcher is Back

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The finger issue that lingered for part of 2024 and all of 2025 got most of the headlines, but in truth, William Contreras dealt with multiple nagging injuries last year. They didn't stop him from being a productive hitter, and hard work on his accuracy when throwing to second ensured that he improved at controlling the opposing running game. He remains a solid framer, though he hasn't quite bloomed into the major difference-maker it looked like he might be when the team's cadre of catching coaches first got hold of him in 2023.

Nothing was operating quite at full steam, though, because when you're hurt, you're unavoidably incomplete. You end up being slightly selfish, even when that's the last thing you're disposed to be, as a person or player. You can't spend as much time or attention in service to your teammates, because your body demands some of your attention, and maintaining and treating those injuries demands a great deal of your time.

Contreras is the antithesis of a selfish player, but he was unable to lead and augment his teammates last year the way he wanted to. This spring, with a cleaner bill of health to begin the campaign, he's a different player—one as dynamic and multi-faceted as he was in 2023 and 2024, but made wiser by the adversity he overcame in 2025.

He's altered his batting stance. In the past, he was the rare hitter who could be said to be stepping in the bucket, without losing value to that habit. He started in a fairly neutral stance, used a high leg kick, and strode wide-open, looking to pull the ball. It often looked like this.

This year, he's starting with a more closed stance, and his feet are farther apart. He's gone, if you will, halfway from the way he used to set up and get moving toward the ball to the way teammate and fellow Venezuela native Jackson Chourio does so: a wider base, a deeper bend (in Contreras's case, crouching has become part of his load), and a more direct stride. Even when he's swinging with exactly the same intent, it looks more like this.

However, Contreras is also getting back to doing something he used to do more often, perhaps prompted by the time he spent last month with the man for whom he wears No. 24 and who did it singularly well, Miguel Cabrera. Sometimes, even in advantage counts, Contreras simply anticipates the pitch that's coming, cuts down his swing, and hits the ball cleanly to a spot he knows offers a guaranteed hit. Those moments look like this.

That full-fledged change of timing signature and swing path to generate a key hit (even at the cost of any chance to generate power) is one example of Contreras being an excellent team player. He's also showing the attention to detail and the acute awareness of the moment required to secure wins behind the plate. He's been excellent as a framer so far this year, and not just as a framer—as a challenger, too.

Tuesday's win offered a terrific example. Contreras challenged a 3-2 pitch to Junior Caminero by Brandon Woodruff in the first inning, even though there was already one out and no one base. With so much game left and a relatively non-dangerous situation at hand within the inning, by the models, he needed to feel very confident to make that challenge. Contreras hasn't been especially aggressive with those challenges this year, so it was surprising to see him try it. But that challenge was about more than the leverage index of the pitch. It was also very much about Woodruff, who had given up a home run already and didn't have his best stuff yet. The catcher rolled the dice for his pitcher, knowing it would be a huge pick-me-up for him, as well as feeling that he was in the right. He was, and a walk became a strikeout before our eyes.

Later in that game, Contreras showed a similarly excellent nous for the system and its implications for the personalities he manages from 60 feet away. The Rays had the tying run at the plate, despite being down 5-2, and Abner Uribe was struggling to finish what initially looked like it would be an easy inning. The vibes were getting unfortunately tense; Contreras needed a way to lock his pitcher back in. There's already been much talk this spring about his favorite way to do so with some pitchers, by firing the ball back to them with extra authority after a pitch. With Uribe, though, that isn't always the right way to deliver the message, and indeed, the message needs to be a bit different. On a borderline 0-0 pitch, a ball was called to Richie Palacios, but Contreras challenged again. He was successful again, putting his hurler in the driver's seat for a crucial at-bat. Uribe got out of the inning unscathed.

Contreras is leaning more heavily into catching with his right knee down, and his stance has been modified a bit behind the plate, as well as in the batter's box. He's making lots of small but important changes, as he tries to be the well-rounded star and centerpiece of this team again. That's who he was in 2024, and it's who he wants to be in 2026. It's not easy, but because he's healthier this year, it's at least possible—so he's attacking the task with tenacity.

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