Luis Lara, Sal Frelick and the Striking of a Delicate Balance

Over his first 50 days in the major leagues, Luis Lara got 125 plate appearances. He wasn't quite an everyday player, but he got ample opportunities, thanks in large part to the absence of Sal Frelick. The injured Frelick left a breach into which the team plugged their freshly extended rookie, and Lara's speed, defense and feel for hitting got a chance to shine. In that span, he batted .259/.328/.375, with a 9.6% walk rate and a 19.2% strikeout rate. That was in addition to numerous impressive catches in the outfield.

Frelick returned from the injured list on August 26, which was welcome news for the Brewers. Though still young by the standards of most teams, Frelick is a respected part of the Milwaukee clubhouse and a relatively veteran presence in what is always a youth-centered squad. He's not having as good a year as he had in 2025, and Pat Murphy runs his roster as a (moderated) meritocracy, so Frelick hasn't gotten his full-time, no-questions-asked gig back since his activation, but he's been treated almost as a regular. In the last 18 days, he has 48 plate appearances, despite batting .205 with little patience or power. The Brewers' schedule has been peculiarly heavy with left-handed opposing starters, but in the 10 games in which they've seen righties, Frelick has seven starts.

That's pushed Lara into a part-time gig. He has more trips to the plate than Frelick over the last not-quite three weeks, but just barely so. More to the point, that playing time has been divided almost perfectly evenly by the handedness of the opposing pitcher. Lara has 26 plate appearances against righties and 25 against lefties since Frelick's return; he had 91 trips against righties and 34 against lefties before that. Normally, a switch-hitter gets about 70% of their plate appearances against righties, unless the league is actively trying to turn them around.

In this case, the reason for the egalitarian platoon balance is Frelick, a lefty batter whom Murphy is using mostly against righty pitchers. That Garrett Mitchell (the other candidate for any kind of playing-time reduction in the outfield) is also a lefty bat makes it even more likely that Lara will remain in this unusual role for a player of his profile.

If this were a permanent state of affairs, that would be a problem. Lara is a better hitter from the left side. In the majors, he's batting .272/.350/.369 against righties, and .236/.288/.309 against lefties. That's why, since being constricted this way, he's batting just .261 and slugging .283. To his immense credit, though, the rookie has adjusted and developed a working ad hoc plate approach, which has allowed him to maintain a .333 OBP over this span. For a guy whose main source of value is his glove; who has two swings to maintain and much to learn about handling big-league pitching; who isn't playing every day; and who is being asked to bat more often than usual from his weaker side, that's a huge achievement.

Some of the credit goes to Murphy and the coaching staff. They consistently outperform the rest of the league when it comes to onboarding rookies and keeping them engaged and successful even when their usage isn't conducive to that, in a vacuum. Lara has profited from the way the team counsels its young batters to be patient and use the opposite field, but he's also shown solid bat speed from his weaker side—particularly given the irregularity of his opportunities.

The final fortnight should offer a glimpse into the Brewers' plans for the postseason. Presumably, they'll see a few more right-handed starters over that stretch, and whether Lara gets meaningful run against them (at the expense of Frelick or Mitchell) will be worth watching. For now, though, his high-value role as a late-inning defensive weapon and source of just enough offense to tilt a few games in the Crew's favor casts both the youngster and his organization in a favorable light.

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