Speed + On-Base = Brice Turang

With his drastically improved performance at the plate this year, the Brewers have finally been able to unleash the full might of their middle infield speed demon.

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

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Brice Turang seems like a whole new player this year. After posting a .585 OPS in his rookie season, he’s managed to put together a slash line of .327/.367/.455 for an OPS+ of 130 in his sophomore campaign. So, what has changed intrinsically about his game?

First and foremost, his performance against four-seam fastballs has gotten much better. He was one of the worst hitters against the fastball last year, averaging just .198 and striking out 25.7% of the time against the pitch. This year, he’s averaging .444 and whiffing just 5.9% of the time. He’s still striking out at around the same rate, but he’s clearly gotten better at catching up to the fastball and making contact. Here are more advanced swing/contact statistics against four-seam fastballs at >95 mph.

	2023	2024
Swing %	61.9	59.2
Miss %	26.5	6.9
Contact %	73.5	93.1
In Play %	15.2	20.7

He’s swinging just a little less, but a 20% increase in contact and a 5% increase in in-play rate is a quantitative testament to how much work he likely did in the offseason to fix one of the biggest holes in his approach. He’s also gotten much better at hitting the high fastball. Here was his wOBA against four-seam fastballs in 2023 (left) vs. the wOBA against four-seam fastballs in 2024 (right). It seems like the only part of the strike zone he was comfortable with before was the lower inside corner, whereas this year, he's starting to get some thump in the upper half.

A video example of this can be seen as well. Here’s a high fastball from last year against which Turang recorded an exit velocity of just 69.8 mph.

In contrast, here’s one from the Orioles series that was off the bat at 103.3 mph.

He has increased his batting average from .218 to .327 and his on-base percentage from .285 to .367. For most players, this would be the end of the story, but with Turang, another aspect to his playstyle makes this even more important.

Brice Turang has some wheels. He has always had wheels. His sprint speed was in the 95th percentile last year and is in the 97th percentile this year. He stole 26 bases in 2023, which was pretty cool, but his OBP of just .285 completely hamstrung him. This year, given more opportunities to be on-base to begin with, he’s already leading MLB in stolen bases with nine. He's got more than notable speedsters Ronald Acuña Jr. and Corbin Carroll.

To illustrate the quantitative advantage of such theft, Jake McKibbin recently had a great piece that covered the Brewers’ speed at a team level. On an individual level, Turang’s on-base/speed combination also makes him productive at any spot in the lineup. He could be a top-of-the-order guy who causes a ruckus on the base paths. Alternatively, he could act as a table-setter closer to the bottom of the order.

He still lacks the pop of some other players on the team, but Turang’s niche and role on the team cannot be understated. In addition to his newfound hitting skills, he continues to play elite defense and has already accumulated two outs above average. He’s only 60 plate appearances into the season so far, but I think those alarms you hear tell you it’s Turang time.

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