Brewers Hitter of the Month: August 2024

Coming off a July where there club performed at a sub 500 win loss record, the Brewers are now with the Phillies for the second seed in the playoffs after winning 19 of the 28 games this month.

While the Brewers lost Christian Yelich for the season, the supporting cast around him have stepped up hitting a .255/.343/.444 line with 39 home runs and 147 RBI. This marks the best monthly stat line of the 2024 season. Who are the brightest stars of the month of August? Let’s look back at the top performances for second to last month of the regular season.

Honorable Mentions
With the Garrett Mitchell and Blake Perkins both healthy, the duo might have less opportunities and plate appearances. While Perkins did go down with a calf strain early in the month, he still put up a .326/.400/.391 slash line in 55 plate appearances. Meanwhile, Mitchell was healthy for the month hitting a .253 batting average with an .803 OPS. In fact, this production can match Sal Frelick's numbers who might've made this list had it not been for a 1-for-25 stretch. Another player taking advantage of limited playing time is Gary Sanchez who had a 150 OPS+ in 17 games in the month of August.

Now let’s get on with list. These three are interchangeable as any one of these could’ve taken the title. We had to be nitpicky.

3: Willy Adames – 118 PA, .288/.373/.606, 30 H, 13 XBH, 10 HR, 24 RBI, 24 R, 14 BB, 37 K
Behold our glorious home run king. Well, there’s still another month but Adames has broken away from the pack. He’s getting on base, he’s barreling up balls at 11.7%, and he’s taking walks.

Why does this seem familiar? That’s right, this is 2021 Adames. When he joined the club, he was hitting below the Mendoza line. But as a Brewer, he hit 20 home runs and drove in 58 RBI while hitting a .285 with a 137 OPS+. He was so good in those four months, he even garnered MVP votes. Not saying he will this year, but he’s putting up career numbers on a contract year. Might be bad for the Brewers extension chances but I digress.

So why only third? The strikeouts. I know he’s always had a thing with strikeouts but over the last couple of months he’s struck out almost a third of the time. In comparison, Eugenio Suárez, who led the American League in strikeouts, has a lower K rate in the last two months (24.1%). Based off his 22.1% K rate, we know Adames can strikeout less. If he keeps hitting these strikeouts won’t really matter. But like I said, we are very nitpicky this month.

2: Jackson Chourio – 121 PA, .321/.372/.554, 36 H, 14 XBH, 5 HR, 19 RBI, 18 R, 6 BB, 21 K
Like last month, Chourio is putting up the numbers that a former #2 prospect in baseball should be. His .926 OPS and his 155 wRC+ for the speaks volumes.

He may be only 20 but he is playing like a seasoned veteran out there. He has been absolutely clutch this season. Even with the rough start, he’s hitting a .350/.381/.500 slash line in high leverage situations. Partner that with a .870 OPS with RISP and you got a reliable bat on your hands.

The one concern is walk/strikeout ratio. It went back down to where it his early season woes (0.29 in August). The strikeouts percent went up to 17.4% while his walk percentage went down to 5.0%. He’s still seeing the ball really well for this short amount of time in the league.

He’s just three home runs shy of a 20/20 season. There’s still plenty of time to do it. There’s even enough time to show the league this is the best rookie with the name Jackson in the National League. Even if he doesn’t get the Rookie of the Year, it’s fair to say the Brewers fan base is proud of this Venezuelan rookie. That and the fact they have 7-9 more seasons of him. Also enjoy that piece of the scoreboard.

*WINNER* Hitter of the Month: William Contreras – 123 PA, .295/.398/.648, 31 H, 18 XBH, 9 HR, 23 RBI, 22 R, 17 BB, 27 K
This is your daily reminder to thank the Atlanta Braves for including the Brewers in the Sean Murphy trade and giving us William Contreras for magic beans. You could probably do the same thing for the A’s when they gave us Joel Payamps but I’m going to let Jason Wang tell you about it in the Pitcher of the Month story.

Contreras has his All Star form once again as his August statistics are absolutely disgusting. A 1.046 OPS, and a 183 wRC+ is great for any player in the league let alone the catchers in the league.

He continues to rake the ball and be a consistent hitter in an injured lineup. He has kept a consistent strikeout rate (around 20%) he has a high walk rate (10.5%), and he has hit the ball hard (92.7 average exit velocity).

The one concern I had about him was his ground ball rate and the fact he led the National League in grounded into double plays. His ground ball percentage went down this month, his fly ball rate went up, and he’s only grounded into 3 double plays. He has improved in every aspect of his game this month and is on pace to have career best stats in home runs, RBI, runs and even batting average.

The Brewers roster as a whole has shown no signs of slowing down despite the Yelich news. With the Magic Number set at 16, this club will need this hot bats ready now and for what lies ahead in October

Who do you think deserved to be the hitter of the month? Would you change anything with our list? Who do you think will be September’s Hitter of the Month? Let us know in the comments.