When will Frelick get benched?

[Frisbee Slider]

2 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

Frelick doesn’t have an issue with making contact or controlling the strike zone, he just doesn’t hit the ball hard enough. Last year he starting pulling the ball and got some homers, but it appears to me pitchers have made an adjustment against him and he’s back to putting the ball in play but not driving it, which has always limited his offensive production. 

Frelick's 2025 exit velocity was 85.5. This year it is 85.6. To the extent he has always been below average with EV, he is driving the ball similarly to last year. His launch angle is way down from last year, though. source

 

[BarremlensTSSC]

25 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

Frelick doesn’t have an issue with making contact or controlling the strike zone, he just doesn’t hit the ball hard enough. Last year he starting pulling the ball and got some homers, but it appears to me pitchers have made an adjustment against him and he’s back to putting the ball in play but not driving it, which has always limited his offensive production. 

The BF article on the differences between Frelick's contact this year to last this week was really good, and focused on what's actually probably repeatable from 2025, assuming the home run totals were an outlier that are unlikely to recur.  Linked below for anyone reading this discussion thread who might have missed the article.

 

[JCREW]

On 5/25/2026 at 9:19 AM, umphrey said:

Can’t wait til we get into June and some AAA hitter call ups become more viable. Lara, Pratt, Jett are all looking like interesting options right now. Would like to see Frelick in a platoon and defensive sub role until he works through his issues at the plate. The other ABs go to one of those prospects. 

As of today, May 29th, we're at 121 service days remaining. The Super 2 cut days for 2023, 2021, and 2019 were 118, 116, and 115 respectively. Everything else going back to 2009 was 122 or more. So we're a week away from near certainty about Super 2 day. Source. 

Let's beat up on a couple of under-.500 teams (I know, not our strong suit) this week, and then let the kids have a shot. 

[wiguy94]

4 minutes ago, JCREW said:

As of today, May 29th, we're at 121 service days remaining. The Super 2 cut days for 2023, 2021, and 2019 were 118, 116, and 115 respectively. Everything else going back to 2009 was 122 or more. So we're a week away from near certainty about Super 2 day. Source. 

Let's beat up on a couple of under-.500 teams (I know, not our strong suit) this week, and then let the kids have a shot. 

You're right but also maybe not. The MLBPA asked for Super 2 to be bumped up from 22% to 44%. Obviously that's not guaranteed to happen but teams could be operating with the idea that Super 2 gets bumped up to like 33% or something like that.

[JCREW]

28 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

You're right but also maybe not. The MLBPA asked for Super 2 to be bumped up from 22% to 44%. Obviously that's not guaranteed to happen but teams could be operating with the idea that Super 2 gets bumped up to like 33% or something like that.

Valid. The league asked for a salary cap that would require the Dodgers to cut $150M of salary. I posted that with the idea that some of those things would phase in over a couple years. 

[adambr2]

me scrolling through MLBtraderumors.com on the team day off and not seeing any of “Brewers option Blake Perkins,”, “Brewers option Sal Frelick”, “Brewers option David Hamilton” or “Brewers DFA Luis Rengifo”.

[nate82]

Everything off of Frelick's bat is nothing but weak contact.  Enough is enough already bench him, release him or send him down already.  

[mudbutt]

It’s wild to me they aren’t even playing Chourio RF at least a little bit to get Frelick out of there and both Bauers/Vaughn in the lineup.

[Matt]

Do we think Murph has any input at all on lineups? 

[Brian]

12 hours ago, mudbutt said:

It’s wild to me they aren’t even playing Chourio RF at least a little bit to get Frelick out of there and both Bauers/Vaughn in the lineup.

Still another month for Lockridge.  Will probably go to Nashville first for a few games also. 

[Team Canada]

We'll see if this is a trend or an aberration, but Frelick sits for Bauers today.

[brewcrewdue80]

I think the statcast shows you why he's still here on the team vs minors.  The whiff/K pct.  He's going to be a nuisance at the plate and to a SP's pitch counts. 

Lara could be an answer, but I think If I remember correctly,  he's  5'7".  That would be a limiting ceiling height to overcome.  

 

[Frisbee Slider]

1 hour ago, brewcrewdue80 said:

Lara could be an answer, but I think If I remember correctly,  he's  5'7".  That would be a limiting ceiling height to overcome.  

I think Lara could be a switch hitting version of what we wish 5’9” Frelick would be.

[JohnBriggs12]

 

I get the skepticism about Lara.  He's even shorter than Sal and you could write off some of his numbers to a fast start.  But the reality is that his AAA numbers have stayed remarkably consistent for 2 months.  38 walks compared to 31 K's and he's only 21.  

Perkins is hanging on to a roster spot by a thread.  Give Lara a month heading into the deadline.  If he performs, Frelick becomes a trade candidate.  Somebody will bite.

[homer]

My hunch is a lot of the roster stuff will shake out either after the Super 2 date (early June) or after the draft.

[adambr2]

On 5/29/2026 at 11:04 PM, Matt said:

Do we think Murph has any input at all on lineups? 

On lineups? Goodness, I certainly hope so,

[nate82]

4 hours ago, brewcrewdue80 said:

I think the statcast shows you why he's still here on the team vs minors.  The whiff/K pct.  He's going to be a nuisance at the plate and to a SP's pitch counts. 

If the only positive of a player is being a nuisance at the plate then there really isn't a positive.  Just because you are not striking out doesn't mean you are positively impacting the game.  Weak contact is weak contact and Frelick is full of weak contact. 

If you are just being a nuisance at the plate and are not actually getting on base then your nuisance isn't helping the team at all. 

Here's some more advanced stats for Frelick:

Frelick is absolutely awful and there is nothing positive that he is bringing to the team other than base running and well you need to get on base for that to be a positive.  So even his positive is not even seen by the team because he can't get on base.  His BB% is only up 0.8 from last year and while he doesn't strike out a lot he is not doing anything with those non strike outs. 

 Then you have his quality of contact again another negative for him.  Just because someone see's a lot of pitches that doesn't mean it is a positive.  Seeing a lot of pitches is just seeing a lot of pitches.  If that is what mattered then yes Frelick would be a great player, unfortunately you can't score runs or get on base by seeing a lot of pitches.  You actually have to do something with the bat to do that and Frelick has been failing at producing anything positive with the bat.

2 hours ago, JohnBriggs12 said:

If he performs, Frelick becomes a trade candidate.  Somebody will bite.

There is not much value for Frelick as a trade asset you may get a reliever for him but that's about all you are going to get.  Frelick offensively this year is the equivalent of Joey Ortiz's 2025 season.  What would you give up for that?