The Brewers' Two Light-Hitting Lefties Have Been the Engines of Their Offense So Far

It hasn’t been the greatest start to the season for Milwaukee. The first series of the year saw them on the receiving end of a record-breaking performance by the Yankees and their new bats. Even after they escaped the Bronx, they got mollywhopped in their first game against Kansas City, before clutching up a narrow series victory. They also cobbled together a three-of-four series win over the Reds, but that's only been enough to draw them back up to .500, at 5-5. The team’s OPS of .659 (22nd in the league) isn’t too surprising, given their lack of offensive investment, but shockingly, their team ERA is the second-worst in baseball, at 5.97.

What happened? Wasn’t Milwaukee supposed to be the center of pitching advancement, reinventing arms of all sorts and turning middling starters into the best long relievers you’ve ever seen in your life, and some fine relievers into surprisingly solid starters? Why was Elvin Rodríguez allowed to give up seven earned runs in five innings against Cincinnati, to inflate his 2025 ERA to 11.00? Many questions, very few answers.

And yeah, the Brewers haven’t exactly been known to swing big bats, but even their best hitters haven’t been able to get going so far. William Contreras, who has won Silver Sluggers in each of the past two years, is at a .360 OPS and just snapped an 0-for-20 streak. Christian Yelich, who was on an MVP pace before going down with injuries last year, has averaged .125 over his 39 plate appearances.

But even the worst situations have silver linings. So far, Milwaukee’s silver lining has been two previously underwhelming offensive performers. While the team’s superstars have struggled to heat up, Brice Turang and Sal Frelick have stepped up to fill in the gaps. Turang is currently sitting at an .849 OPS with 2 homers and 6 RBIs. Since debuting in 2023, he has steadily made harder contact, and it seems like he’s ready to reach a whole new level in 2025.

Sal Frelick still isn’t hitting the ball very hard, but his combination of speed and contact skills have allowed him to excel thus far. In his most recent outing, he was just a homer shy of hitting for the cycle, lighting up the Reds for four hits and turning on the jets to leg out a scrappy triple.

The best part of this dynamic duo leading the team’s offensive charge is how much it stands in contrast to last year’s numbers. In 2024, Frelick’s OPS+ of 83 and Turang’s OPS+ of 85 put them at the bottom of the leaderboard of full-time Brewers. Both were seen as defense-first players, far from menacing presences at the plate. To be fair, that’s probably at least somewhat true, and the season is still in its infancy. Over time, their numbers will likely normalize a bit. However, the team needs whatever momentum it can get right now, and whether you expected it or not, these two are Milwaukee's offensive spark plugs.

Even amid the chaos, the Brewers are still just one game behind a fully loaded Cubs team. Call it irrational exuberance, but I think things will get better before they get worse. Freddy Peralta had a stellar second start against the Royals, tossing eight innings and striking out eight while giving up no walks and just one earned run. Hopefully, that's the first of many quality performances this year. The rotation is reeling from the loss of Nestor Cortes, but will get even more reinforcements soon, in the form of Tobias Myers, Brandon Woodruff, and Jose Quintana. The outfield should eventually come around and the power trio of Yelich, Jackson Chourio, and Garrett Mitchell will be a formidable force at full strength. At the end of the day, even when the odds seem insurmountable, always remember that the Brewers can rest assured that Jake Bauers is still on the roster.