One Good and One Bad Stat for Every Brewers Player, So Far (Part 2)

Christian Yelich

• Uplifting: 91st percentile in OAA
• Concerning: 4.8 Degree Launch Angle

It’s been an unusual usual season for Yelich. He’s been having his best offensive season since his knee injury in 2019, and has excellent expected-production metrics (based on batted-ball data) to back it up. Unfortunately, his launch angle remains low, (though it is his highest since 2019) and Yelich continues to rack up a surfeit of groundouts. If he’s able to get his launch angle up another 2-3 degrees, watch out. The biggest surprise so far is his excellent defense. Yelich’s calling card in Milwaukee has never been his glove, but he's been a plus defender in left field all season. His 3 outs above average is tied for the best among all MLB left fielders, and is third-best on the team behind Willy Adames and Joey Wiemer.

Tyrone Taylor

• Uplifting: 4 Outfield Assists
• Concerning: All of His Offensive Numbers

Tyrone Taylor's start to the 2023 campaign has been a disaster. He missed the first month of the season with a shoulder injury, and since his return, Taylor has probably hurt the Brewers more than he's helped. His .167/.187/.250 slash line is the worst on the team, his 13 wRC+ is among the worst in the MLB, but, his defense has been great. Despite missing a month of the season, Taylor’s already recorded 4 outfield assists, tied for 4th in the big leagues. 

Joey Wiemer

• Uplifting: 0.4 fWAR
• Concerning: .249 OBP

Joey Wiemer's odd-looking stance and swing (with such numerous moving parts) hasn’t translated into plentiful offensive success. His numbers at the plate have sat around a .200 average and a .600 OPS for the last month, and he's had problems making consistent contact. His defense and baserunning, however, have made up for his inconsistency at the plate. Per his Baseball Savant ranks, Wiemer is 96th percentile in Outs Above Average, 92nd in Sprint Speed, 79th in Outfielder Jump, and 77th in arm strength. Wiemer may not be hitting just yet, but he's been valuable in a way unique to his skillset.

Jesse Winker

• Uplifting: 11.8% BB Rate
• Concerning: 0 HR

It’s been a well-documented concern for Winker of late, but his power has seemingly vanished. He’s still got a good approach at the plate, where he’s not chasing pitches outside the zone and is taking walks, but his quality of contact is among the worst in MLB. Winker's been battling neck trouble since his time in Cincinnati, and is currently on the IL in another attempt to get healthy. If Winker is (still) unable to hit when he returns from the injured list, his time in Milwaukee probably won’t last much longer.

William Contreras

• Uplifting: 19.0% Strikeout rate
• Concerning: His Streaky Hitting

William Contreras was acquired for what looked like practically nothing, and has quickly become the Brewers' beacon of value and production. He’s been good defensively, solid at the plate, and has done everything on the basepaths you can reasonably ask a catcher. The one eye-catching stat is his 19% K rate, which is nearly nine percentage points lower than his previous season. You could dig for days before you find a truly concerning stat about Contreras, but his hits have come in bunches. His overall body of work may have put up consistent results over a season-long average, but the Brewers would prefer he stayed hot at the plate the whole time.

Honorable mention (or would that be dishonorable?) for the concerning category, however, can go to his ground-ball rate and average launch angle. each of which have been downright Yelichian.

Victor Caratini

• Uplifting: 56.1% Hard Hit Rate
• Concerning: His Catching Metrics

Caratini has not been (and probably won’t be) asked to do much besides keep Contreras off his feet every few days. However, Caratini hasn’t been his usual defensive self. His catching isn’t noticeably poor, but his pitch framing and pop time have taken a dive from previous years. On the other side of the coin, Caratini’s offensive numbers don't jump off the page with the expectation of his absurdly high 56.1% hard hit rate. To put that number into context, Mike Trout has never posted a hard hit rate over 55% in his career.

Caratini has always had the ability to hit it hard, but has never been able to translate that into the power one would expect. Even so, he's been fine this season, and it he can rebound in his defensive numbers, he'll once again be the exemplar of the modern backup backstop.