Sal Frelick Came a Long Way in 2025, But Has Slid Backward as He Wears Down in October

At the outset of spring training, I posed a question that felt pivotal for the Brewers' season: Could Sal Frelick become at least a halfway threatening power hitter, while also being more disciplined at the plate? The answer, happily, turned out to be clear: Yes, he could. Frelick batted .288/.351/.405, a subtle but humongous improvement from the .259/.320/.335 line he'd put up in 2024. Without becoming elite in any one facet of offense, he turned from a below-average hitter with virtually no pop into a well-rounded offensive threat. He hit 12 home runs, one year after hitting just two. His walk rate increased; his strikeout rate decreased.

In the postseason, though, Frelick has largely been a non-factor. He's made some good plays in the outfield, but at the plate, he's been a forgettable 5-for-23, with one double and two walks. Even accounting for the error on which he reached base in Game 1 of the NLDS, he's only gotten on in about 30.8% of his chances; he's not helping the team build rallies by avoiding outs and keeping the line moving.

One major problem is that, at the end of a season in which he batted 70 more times and played 60 more innings in the outfield despite missing time with a hamstring strain, Frelick is tired. He added significant bat speed in 2025, but that extra juice is fading as the Brewers push past 170 games played.

Frelick was the face of a team-wide sag in swing speed in September, when they seemed to have lost the adrenaline that fueled their midseason performance surge. Some Brewers have rebounded since that lull; Frelick hasn't. Because of the flatter bat path he's utilized throughout this season, a small loss in bat speed means a much deeper contact point and a loss of the ability to pull the ball. He's moved deeper in the batter's box, trying to give himself time to beat the ball to its spot again, but it's not working.

All year, the difference in Frelick's contact quality and use of the whole field was night-and-day. He'll never be a true slugger, but whereas in 2024, he was mostly hitting the ball hard when he hit it on the ground, he showed an ability to lift the ball with authority this season. His average launch angle on batted balls hit at least 90 miles per hour rose from 6° to 9°.

Focusing on the occasions when he did hit a ball in the most productive band for launch angle, he hit it much harder this year—effectively shifting his whole distribution out by 5 miles per hour. Batted balls in that range averaged 83 MPH for Frelick in 2024, but 88 MPH in 2025.

In his first year and a half in the majors, almost all of Frelick's hard-hit balls went up the middle, be they on the ground or in the air. In 2025, he learned to pull those balls for the first time, which is how he saw such a jump in home-run power.

He also got better at using the whole field (as opposed to just left field) when hitting line drives and fly balls, regardless of exit velocity. He found a lot of singles in the space beyond second base, in front of the center fielder, by hitting liners right back up the middle. 

Frelick became, in short, one of the toughest outs in baseball in 2025. Unfortunately, that hasn't been true during the team's playoff run. That inability to get the bat head out and catch the ball early is robbing Frelick of the pop and pull skills that changed his profile this year. He's been a shell of himself for these seven games, and without his catalytic presence in the middle of the order, the Brewers offense has been similarly hollowed out. They need their young outfielder to find one last reserve of energy and get dangerous again, or their season will end undeservedly unceremoniously.