The Hits Keep Comin': Jackson Chourio and the Old-Fashioned Barrage

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For most of baseball history, there was an important and well-understood distinction between being a good hitter and being a slugger, and another between hitting for average and being a slap hitter. Good hitters often hit mostly singles. The difference between guys like that and the less-valuable punch-and-judy hitters was that the former could punish a mistake or alter their approach to produce more power in a crucial situation. Sluggers understood that their job was to trade contact (and, therefore, batting average) for power. Only the very best players in the league were expected to be a home-run threat almost every time up and contribute an above-average batting average.

The evolution of the game has done a bit to diminish the real differences between those player types, and more than a bit to diminish our appreciation of them. We know, now, that guys who only hit singles aren't very useful, but often, we ignore or downplay the fact that people have always known that. We ask more players to trade contact for power, because we better understand how important power is, but we don't fully appreciate the guys who still strike the delicate balance. The most underrated style of hitter, these days, is the one who both hits for average and delivers average-plus power. They're the guys who get vaguely praised, but insufficiently. Fans of their teams often cry out for more power or more walks from them, because those skills are understood to be more durable and more predictive than hitting line drives.

On Monday night, Major League Baseball gave out its most prestigious award, named for Roberto Clemente. The award (won, this year, by Francisco Lindor) is for humanitarianism and community service, but it's also an opportunity to celebrate one of the greatest players ever. Clemente was an inner-circle Hall of Famer, and that his namesake prize is now given out at the Fall Classic each year is fitting, because he was one of the best World Series hitters ever. People who watched him play talk about him with a gleam in their eye reserved, otherwise, for Willie Mays and Henry Aaron. He was one of the dozen best players ever. However, he belonged to a class of player that has since become underrated. Not long after Lindor stood on the turf at Tropicana Field and accepted his trophy, Jackson Chourio took the field and reminded everyone that he's that kind of player, too.

Chourio entered play in Game 3 with 25 career postseason hits. That tied him with 15 others for 351st on the all-time leaderboard. In the first plate appearance of the game, he got on top of a high fastball from Freddy Peralta in a 2-2 count and slashed a line drive to center. It was a hit all the way, and moved him into a tie with 16 others for 335th all-time.

The Brewers threatened in that first frame, but couldn't push Chourio home. When Chourio came up again in the third, the score remained 0-0, and there was one out and nobody on base. Peralta had gone with fastballs (and a stray changeup) in the first against Chourio, and he tried to steal a strike with a first-pitch curveball. Chourio wasn't having it. He was out in front, just a little, but he didn't roll over it. The resulting one-hopper was by even the exquisite Taylor Walls before he could really get moving. No-doubt single. That moved Chourio into a tie with 20 others for 315th in career playoff hits.

This time, the dam cracked, and two runs poured through. Chourio was the first to touch the plate for Milwaukee, as he has been three other times this October. Peralta did a fine job of stopping the bleeding, though, so the game was still in the balance when Chourio came up again in the top of the fifth. Again, there was one out and nobody on. Peralta got his former teammate to swing through a first-pitch fastball, but his effort to tempt him into chasing a sweeper off the outside corner failed. On 1-1, he tried a right-on-right changeup, which has become much more a part of his arsenal since he joined the Rays. It's hardly ever the right pitch against Chourio, though, and it didn't work this time, either. If anything, Chourio hit a more vicious liner than in the first, for an equally sure hit. That drew Chourio into a tie with seven others for 308th on the playoff hits leaderboard, at 28.

As you already know, after that, the dam gave way. Chourio stole second base, and eventually scored on Brice Turang's game-breaking single. The Brewers kept whaling away on the Rays until Chourio's spot came up again, with the score already 9-0. Peralta was long gone. Cole Sulser worked a 2-2 count, but his own would-be chase sweeper made the opposite of the mistake Peralta's had: it stayed just barely within reach, on the outside corner. Chourio leaned right into it, landing the final blow in a decisive barrage.

Chourio's hits started each of Milwaukee's scoring rallies and wrapped up one of them. He was perpetual danger and perpetual pressure. He didn't need to force multiple bad pitches or wait out a hurler to do damage; he took bases by force. He didn't hit a home run or work a 12-pitch at-bat, but he dominated the Rays.

With that double in the fifth, Chourio moved into a tie with 14 others for 293rd in playoff hits. It helps, of course, that he's come up in the age of the expanded postseason, and that the Brewers are always there. (Then again, he helps ensure they will be.) Still, this isn't about merely having lots of chances. He's a .312 October hitter. The only players with more hits than Chourio in fewer career postseason plate appearances are:

He's only 22 years old; this is just the beginning for him. Yet, he already ranks with some of the game's greats. Brock stands out on the list above. His showings in the 1964, 1967 and 1968 World Series were the stuff of legend, and although Brock had extraordinary raw power, it was the way he shot line drives all over the park that captivated fans and fueled the Cardinals' two championships. He blended that power with great speed and aggressiveness on the bases, and with great defense in the outfield. That's exactly what Chourio has done, especially this fall.

By modern standards, Chourio isn't yet demonstrating elite power. He did hit 25 home runs this year, despite having the front end of his season lopped off by a hand injury, but he's never slugged .500 in a season, and his .471 career slugging average ranks just 32nd in the league since the start of 2024. His .193 isolated power (ISO) ranks 63rd.

Just as it's easy to get numb to the power that has become the baseline throughout the league, though, it's easy to forget how hard it is to hit for average. Chourio batted .291 in 2026, and stands at .278 for his career. That sounds somewhat pedestrian, for a would-be star, but his adjusted average (AVG+) of 113 is the same as (for instance) Cecil Cooper had in his 20s, during which time he batted .296. Rising global strikeout rates are just one factor. Defenses are positioned more astutely than ever, too. It's extremely hard to hit for average in 2026. Chourio finds ways.

It's also too easy to overlook the value of singles (and even doubles) in the modern game. If a hitter comes by them in a fashion as indefensible as Chourio's, singles wear down opponents, as surely as walks do. The traffic on the bases, the ability to advance runners multiple bases or force errors, and the threat of a steal once he reaches base all make life difficult for the defense and pitching staff. So does Chourio's ability to hit the ball over the fence, of course, but hitting singles and doubles the way he does is a harder skill to neutralize than hitting homers the way most hitters do. He therefore keeps the line moving and runs a strong on-base percentage, in addition to doing bigger things—like driving home the winning runs in NLDS Game 2 or sparking both rallies in World Series Game 3.

The Brewers are very likely to win the World Series for the first time in the next day or two. Chourio will probably be right at the center of it all again. He's an excellent symbol of what makes this team great, too: young, and not going anywhere; versatile and intelligent, as well as explosive and passionate; and easy to underappreciate. His impact on the Brewers was not as immediate or as unsubtle as Ronald Acuña Jr.'s or Elly De La Cruz's were when those players first came to the majors. Modern stats favor those guys over Chourio, too. No matter. Chourio is better, and that has been proven this fall. It will remain true for years to come, just as the Brewers will remain—if not always champions—perpetual contenders for the crown. Perpetual pressure; perpetual danger. That's the Brewers in a nutshell, and the nutshell's name is Jackson Chourio.