Inside The Milwaukee Brewers Players Project: Opening Day Heroes

This week’s additions to the Players Project are J.J. Hardy, Mike Cameron, and Jhoulys Chacín. Each week, I try to come up with a trio of players that have something in common. Hardy, Cameron, and Chacín all had great Opening Day games. The performances were not necessarily the best Opening Day stat lines in Brewers history, but they were notable nonetheless.

J.J. Hardy
Hardy was entering his third major league season in 2007, coming off his sophomore campaign in which he had played only 35 games before undergoing season-ending surgery in July to repair a tendon in his right ankle. Hardy came to camp in 2007 healthy and ready to show the Brewers what he could do.

He started quickly. On Opening Day against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Hardy batted second and collected three singles and a walk in five trips to the plate. He also scored a run and had an RBI. The Brewers scored a 7-1 victory due in part to Hardy’s heroics.

J.J. was red-hot the first five weeks, batting .341/.395/.622 with 11 doubles and nine homers in just 135 at-bats. The Brewers were 23-10 in early May and led the Chicago Cubs by 6.5 games. Milwaukee relinquished their stranglehold on first place in mid-August and finished the season with a mark of 83-79, two games behind the Cubs.

Hardy played 151 games and had career-bests with 89 runs scored, 164 hits, 80 RBI, and 274 total bases. He also added 30 doubles and 26 home runs. Hardy was named to the NL All-Star team for the only time while wearing the Milwaukee jersey, which lasted five seasons. Hardy was traded to the Minnesota Twins for Carlos Gómez and after one year in the Twin Cities, was traded to the Baltimore Orioles, where he spent the final seven years of his big-league career.

Mike Cameron
Cameron came to Milwaukee as a free agent at age 35 in 2008. He missed the first 25 games of the season due to testing positive for a banned stimulant the year before. Playing 120 games, Cameron posted a 111 OPS+, along with 25 doubles, 25 homers, and 17 stolen bases. Although he had won three Gold Gloves in his career, critics talked about his defense, even though he had a DRS of four in his first year in Milwaukee.

The Brewers re-upped Cameron for $10 million in 2009. “Why in the world would the Milwaukee Brewers pay Mike Cameron $10 million for one season to have a lousy average, strike out a lot, and be very average in the field,” grumbled sportswriter Chuck Delsman.

Cameron had a very interesting Opening Day against the San Francisco Giants. Batting sixth and playing center field at AT&T Park, Cameron walked in the second inning and added an RBI single in the third off starter Tim Lincecum. He drew free passes off relievers Joe Martinez, Jeremy Affeldt, and Alex Hinshaw. Cameron also scored two runs and pilfered a pair of bases, all to no avail as the Brewers lost 10-6.

Like Hardy two years before, Cameron started off well and was batting .321/.408/.655 with 10 two-baggers and six home runs across 84 at-bats in the first four weeks of the year. He finished with a batting line that was very nearly his career average: .250/.342/.452 with 32 doubles, 24 home runs, and an OPS+ of 110. After the season he signed as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox. After the 2011 season, Cameron ended his 17-year career.

Jhoulys Chacín
Chacín came to the Brewers as a free agent after nine seasons with five different clubs. At that point, he had a 112 OPS+ and a FIP of 4.08. His two-year deal with the Brewers put a cool $15.5 million in the pitcher’s bank account. Chacín’s first season (2018) with Milwaukee showed solid numbers traditionally and analytically. He went 15-8 with an ERA of 3.50, and his 35 starts led the National League. Chacín had a 116 OPS+ and a FIP of 4.03. Big things were expected of him in 2019.

Chacín took the mound against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Opening Day. He struck out the side in the first but didn’t fare so well in the second. Chacín got the first two outs before walking Dexter Fowler. Kolten Wong then hit the first pitch he saw to the Toyota Tundra Territory to make it 2-0. The very next pitch to Harrison Bader cleared the fence in left field and the Cards had a three-run lead.

A home run by Mike Moustakas cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the second. In the third, Chacín and Lorenzo Cain both singled before Christian Yelich hit a three-run bomb to give the home team a 4-3 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth with the Brewers still up by one, Chacín hit a solo shot to left center to make it 5-3.

He had one man on with one out in the top of the sixth when he was relieved by Junior Guerra. Wong hit a solo home run in the seventh to cut the lead to 5-4. Josh Hader took over in the eighth to close it out, but it took a leaping catch by Cain in front of the right center field wall in the top of the ninth to bring home the victory.

Chacín pitched 5.1 innings, allowed three hits, three runs, and two walks while striking out seven. At the plate, he went two for two with the home run and RBI. All in all, it was a pretty good day for a starting pitcher. Unfortunately, he was released in August after 19 starts and an OPS+ of just 77. He was out of the big leagues after the 2022 season.

You can check out some of our past Milwaukee Brewers Player Project bios below.

Early 2000s Catching Crew

Unsung Brewers Heroes of 2015

Honoring Bob With Badger State Products

Learn about the Milwaukee Brewers Players Project here.

Are you interested in Brewers history? Then check out the Milwaukee Brewers Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Brewers uniform!