Jackson Chourio and Andrew Vaughn Have Brought Needed Balance to Brewers' Lineup

[Jack Stern]

Image courtesy of © Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

Results alone made it clear that the Brewers were missing Jackson Chourio and Andrew Vaughn. Through May 3, Milwaukee’s offense posted a collective 96 wRC+, which ranked 18th in baseball. Their .354 slugging percentage ranked 28th.

Both hitters quickly helped in that regard upon returning from the injured list in St. Louis on Monday. In two games, Chourio has gone 6-for-9 with three doubles, while Vaughn launched his first home run of the season on Wednesday afternoon.

Beyond their individual results lies the pair’s larger impact on the Brewers’ offensive identity. With Chourio and Vaughn sidelined, their lineup made do with an even more extreme version of the scrappy small-ball approach that has defined them during the Pat Murphy era. According to Baseball Savant, last season’s Brewers had baseball’s fourth-highest ground ball rate and laid down the second-most bunts. Without Chourio and Vaughn (who was only active for four plate appearances on Opening Day), they were the only team with a ground ball rate over 50%, the league’s highest by nearly four percentage points. They also bunted four more times than any other team.

Through a combination of fortunate sequencing and timely, well-executed small ball, the Brewers have gotten more mileage from that approach than many might expect. Despite that below-average wRC+, they were eighth in runs scored without Chourio and Vaughn. It would always be challenging to successfully ride that style of play through a 162-game season, though, so regaining those two hitters and their more powerful batted-ball profiles was a welcome change. Chourio’s career ground-ball rate is 45.1%, and Vaughn’s is 43.1%.

In addition to supplying more line drives and fly balls, the two bring something else the lineup was lacking more generally: hard-hit balls. Without them, the Brewers were 24th in hard-hit rate. While Chourio and Vaughn’s contact quality is closer to good than great, their respective hard-hit rates ranked in the 62nd and 84th percentiles of hitters last season. The aggressive Chourio also brings a damage-hunting approach to a lineup that once again has baseball’s lowest swing rate.

Blake Perkins, Luis Matos, Greg Jones, and Tyler Black filled most of the playing time while Chourio and Vaughn were on the shelf. In 118 combined plate appearances, they combined to hit eight balls with an exit velocity of at least 100 mph. In 19 plate appearances, Chourio and Vaughn have hit nine.

With two of their heavier hitters in tow, the Brewers’ lineup now comes together more cohesively. Their presence takes pressure off Brice Turang as one of the few remaining power bats in the order. Black, Jake Bauers, Sal Frelick, and Garrett Mitchell need not hit in as many unfavorable left-on-left matchups and can return to roles better suited to their skill sets. Murphy won’t be forced to sacrifice flexibility with late-game substitutions by starting backup catcher Gary Sánchez as the DH. As encouraging as the early results were, the bigger-picture impact makes Chourio and Vaughn’s returns most promising.

View full article

[jay87shot]

Yesterdays lineup with Bauers at 1B, Black in Left, and Vaughn at DH was by far the best lineup we have had all year. I saw that Yeli is starting to swing and is hopeful he won't need any rehab starts so maybe a week or two and he should be back.

[Team Canada]

1 hour ago, Jack Stern said:

Blake Perkins, Luis Matos, Greg Jones, and Tyler Black filled most of the playing time while Chourio and Vaughn were on the shelf. In 118 combined plate appearances, they combined to hit eight balls with an exit velocity of at least 100 mph. In 19 plate appearances, Chourio and Vaughn have hit nine.

Exactly. We treaded water ok while they were out, but things are looking up.

[nathanj42]

I'm hopeful that Chourio can keep up his .903 xwOBA, 50.0% Barrel % and 87.5% HardHit%. With players with 10+ PAs, Chourio's 103.7 EV is 7.3MPH faster than any other player in MLB, which is the same gap as #2 (James Wood, not the guy for James Wood High School) to #220 and former Brewer Rhys Hoskins 89.1 EV.