2025 Offseason Handbook: Sorting Out the Brewers Outfield

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How do the Brewers look at their outfield depth for 2025? They have their young phenom Jackson Chourio looking like a budding superstar, with even more to come production-wise. Christian Yelich may be either further hampered by, or finally relieved of, his incessant back problems. Can Garrett Mitchell find a full bill of health? Can Sal Frelick find some additional bat speed? Does Blake Perkins have a meaty role waiting, after his strong 2024? All the while, Tyler Black makes his own progression to the outfield, albeit one necessitated by his ineptitude on the infield. The Brewers have a lot of questions around the individuals in their outfield, but the mix as a whole seems crowded—even accounting for their collective vulnerability to injuries. How might the Brewers go about answering some of these questions this offseason?

Is There A Tradeable Excess?
While the Brewers outfield is crowded right now, the same cannot be said for the left side of their infield. Oliver Dunn, talented as he is, has too many gaping holes in his swing to suggest he should own the third base job, while many would and should be uncomfortable with Andruw Monasterio or Tyler Black taking over that role. In terms of major league-caliber players, you could argue the Brewers have none, and the outfield mix may be key to fixing that.

Trading players away is a delicate balance. While it’s tempting to ship out whomever the organization considers their least valuable member of a logjammed position, the value other organizations place on these players can be just as important. Walking the tightrope of considering a player's capacity for development and recent production, weighed against their trade value, isn’t easy. In the Crew's case, it affects two specific players: Mitchell, who has so much potential but has been plagued by injuries and struggles with the high fastball; and Frelick, where the ceiling isn’t much higher than the floor without some additional bat speed. In any trade, the Brewers will have to assess whether these players have reached their peaks; whether other teams see more potential; and who brings the largest value to their team going forward.

The logical place to start is Mitchell, who showed that he can punish breaking pitches over the heart of the plate, and even low fastballs, enough to compensate for the giant hole at the top of the zone against fastballs. The question is twofold: can he stay healthy throughout an entire season? And can he cover that high fastball enough to remain productive even when he’s not demolishing mistakes? Most avid followers would agree that Mitchell has had some good fortune; his results are a far cry from his expected production in nearly every measurement in 2024:

That batted-ball luck will level out at some point, and covering the high fastball will become a far greater issue when it does. If he can fix the hole, the sky's the limit for a player of Mitchell’s raw power, speed and defensive prowess, which make him valuable to both the Brewers and potential suitors.

Sal Frelick has the opposite problem, with exceptional plate discipline and contact skills but a complete dearth of power in the regular season. In the first percentile for nearly every power-related statistic, he didn’t hit a home run in his last 102 games over the regular season. One of the best right fielders in the game, being a good baserunner and elite contact skills do not make up entirely for the absence of raw power, but there are hints at more bat speed, as evidenced by his huge playoff home run.