Does Switch-Hitting Still Make Sense for Blake Perkins?

[Jack Stern]

Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

When Blake Perkins stepped into the left-handed batter’s box to face Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Taylor Clarke on Friday night, it was his first plate appearance from the left side in nearly a month. The switch-hitting Perkins last hit left-handed in Las Vegas on June 8, and like his at-bat in Arizona, it only happened because the game went to extra innings after he entered as a pinch-runner. Since May 16, he has taken just six plate appearances as a left-handed hitter.

A natural right-handed hitter, Perkins has typically fared best from that side, making more contact and hitting for more power. As a lefty, he’s never truly been close to an average hitter, but that matchup flexibility added enough value to his glove-first profile to make him a solid big-leaguer. That hasn’t been true this year, as his very limited production from the left side has bottomed out. He has just two left-handed hits, one of which was a bunt single.

Season	wOBA (LHB)	xwOBA (LHB)	K% (LHB)	wOBA (RHB)	xwOBA (RHB)	K% (RHB)
2023	.313	.254	30.3%	.302	.286	15.2%
2024	.280	.276	30.4%	.299	.303	16.4%
2025	.256	.265	29.3%	.286	.326	22.0%
2026	.136	.204	30.0%	.352	.309	23.6%

Perkins continues to swing from both sides, but in reality, he does not function as a switch-hitter on the 2026 Brewers. That raises the question of whether he should hit exclusively right-handed moving forward, a transition he considered a few times earlier in his career.

There are numerous fairly recent examples of hitters giving up switch-hitting during their big-league careers. Perkins wouldn’t be the first Brewer to do it within the last two seasons. In Triple-A last year, the club encouraged Anthony Seigler to focus solely on hitting from his best side before his eventual debut.

However, many of those players, including Seigler, stopped hitting right-handed to focus solely on their left-handed swing. That’s usually a worthwhile tradeoff, as left-handed hitters have the platoon advantage the majority of the time, particularly against starting pitchers. In every season of the pitch-tracking era (since 2008), right-handed pitchers have thrown more than 70% of all pitches.

For Perkins, it might make some sense in the short term to focus solely on being an average right-handed hitter against lefties, but he’s more likely to prolong his opportunities beyond this season by becoming passable again from both sides. His offense will probably never be good enough to make him a full-time player, but he’ll have a much better chance of getting starts in center field with a future team if he can hit left-handed.

That may still be a possibility, as his left-handed swing does not look irretrievably broken. According to Statcast, Perkins’s bat speed and swing path from the left side are nearly identical to his career averages. In a small sample this year, he’s gotten underneath or been jammed by too many fastballs, and he’s waved early at slower stuff. That’s left him hitting too many pop-ups and ground balls, a poor combination for any hitter.

This version of Perkins only helps the Brewers in a limited role. He also owes most of those opportunities to injuries, as the club has been down a right-handed-hitting outfielder—first Jackson Chourio, then Brandon Lockridge—for most of the year. Once Lockridge and Luis Lara start factoring into the mix, Perkins could head back to Triple-A, where he’d have more opportunities to get right.

Those opportunities won’t matter much for the Brewers, but they may still matter to Perkins, who will have to start thinking more broadly about his career prospects. With Lockridge still two seasons away from arbitration and Lara on a recently signed extension, Perkins's time as a productive fourth outfielder in Milwaukee is probably nearing its end. He's a beloved teammate and has defensive and baserunning value, though, so this stop need not be the last one on his tour of the major leagues.

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[Team Canada]

I didn't realize until a recent broadcast (Friday maybe?) where the broadcaster noted that he didn't even start hitting LH until he was a professional. That could at least explain the difference in results.

[CheezWizHed]

I'm not sure hitting makes sense for Perkins anymore.  I'm not sure what happened to him, but he can't even hit Ortiz level... at some point I thought he'd be a great platoon partner for Mitchell, but his bat completely disappeared. 

Time to move to AAA and see if he can find something again.  Going into arbitration next year is pretty much a death sentence for his future with the Brewers (plus Lara is practically a 1 for 1 replacement of him). 

[Trax]

My guess it's Perkins who gets sent down to make room for Lara but they will also have to make a 40 man move for Lara.   

 

I would think they're not done making moves in the short run, we need to call up an infielder.  Eddys Leonard makes the most sense but again, 40 man move would have to be made.

[liveforoctober]

22 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

I'm not sure hitting makes sense for Perkins anymore.  I'm not sure what happened to him, but he can't even hit Ortiz level... at some point I thought he'd be a great platoon partner for Mitchell, but his bat completely disappeared. 

Time to move to AAA and see if he can find something again.  Going into arbitration next year is pretty much a death sentence for his future with the Brewers (plus Lara is practically a 1 for 1 replacement of him). 

In June, Perkins hit .320/.414/.560/.974

[Outlander]

34 minutes ago, Trax said:

My guess it's Perkins who gets sent down to make room for Lara but they will also have to make a 40 man move for Lara.   

 

Got the Perkins part correct, they don't need to make room on the 40 man since Lara was added when he signed the contract.

[CheezWizHed]

3 hours ago, liveforoctober said:

In June, Perkins hit .320/.414/.560/.974

Hooray for those 25 ABs! What do you think they are telling us that the rest of the year (or his career) hasn't told us? 

[Brian]

On 7/7/2026 at 12:51 PM, CheezWizHed said:

Hooray for those 25 ABs! What do you think they are telling us that the rest of the year (or his career) hasn't told us? 

El Zilcho, he is PCA minus average and power in the MLB.

But better than Greg Jones. 

[CheezWizHed]

1 hour ago, Brian said:

El Zilcho, he is PCA minus average and power in the MLB.

But better than Greg Jones. 

If Jones was brought up so Perkins could go down, I'd agree.  But since Lara is taking Perkins (and Frelick's) playing time in the OF, it looks like Jones came up for Hamilton.  I'd be surprised (and massively disappointed)  if Jones does anything in the OF. 

[Brian]

15 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

If Jones was brought up so Perkins could go down, I'd agree.  But since Lara is taking Perkins (and Frelick's) playing time in the OF, it looks like Jones came up for Hamilton.  I'd be surprised (and massively disappointed)  if Jones does anything in the OF. 

I like Lara so far but sample size very very small 2 for 8 with a walk is great.  I think Frelick has to be hurt or somthing.  He has never been this bad that I can remember. 

[Samurai Bucky]

10 minutes ago, Brian said:

I like Lara so far but sample size very very small 2 for 8 with a walk is great.  I think Frelick has to be hurt or somthing.  He has never been this bad that I can remember. 

Bad at what?  Since 6/1, he has a wRC+ of 103 and has an ops of .721.  Earlier in the year, he was terrible, but he has come around lately.

[liveforoctober]

On 7/7/2026 at 12:51 PM, CheezWizHed said:

Hooray for those 25 ABs! What do you think they are telling us that the rest of the year (or his career) hasn't told us? 

Just seeing this. There was no opinion attached to the stat provided. It's just information. You said "hitting doesn't make sense for Perkins anymore". I was simply showing over his entire season of struggle - he has been his best most recently.

You responding with the condescension was wonderful though. Cheers to you.

[Brian]

1 hour ago, Samurai Bucky said:

Bad at what?  Since 6/1, he has a wRC+ of 103 and has an ops of .721.  Earlier in the year, he was terrible, but he has come around lately.

Frelick is one for his last 20 at bats, thats comming around lately?  How Long Can He Keep His Job? 

[Samurai Bucky]

24 minutes ago, Brian said:

Frelick is one for his last 20 at bats, thats comming around lately?  How Long Can He Keep His Job? 

1 hit since July 1 does suck.  So if that is the criteria, that works for me.

Perhaps we just proved that we can make any type of argument if we look at the data a certain way.  That has never happened before... 😄

[Brian]

41 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

1 hit since July 1 does suck.  So if that is the criteria, that works for me.

Perhaps we just proved that we can make any type of argument if we look at the data a certain way.  That has never happened before... 😄

I''m just saying he is playing like he is hurt.  Being tough wins no awards unless you can produce.  His #'s are trending the wrong diection and the worst of his 4 year career. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 7/7/2026 at 12:51 PM, CheezWizHed said:

Hooray for those 25 ABs! What do you think they are telling us that the rest of the year (or his career) hasn't told us? 

Well, for Perkins' career his offensive numbers are fairly average hitting from the right side. Enough that when combined with the glove & role-acceptance type of attitude he's displayed, I suspect there's a job for him somewhere down the road---but barring injuries & with Lara's arrival, not here. Sort of the role Lockridge would have with Milwaukee had he not gotten hurt.

As to the headline yeah, I think him going back to strictly hitting from the R side may make sense for him.

[wiguy94]

Perkins still switch hitting. Struck out on 3 pitches to leadoff the game batting left handed