jonescm128

Keston is a bit easier to identify since anyone who has watched the games can see he is struggling to make contact with pitches in the zone but here are the numbers behind it… Zone swing % 2019 – 72.9% 2020 – 71.4% 2021 – 71.5% No real change here. He is swinging at the same amount of balls in the zone. Chase % 2019 – 31.8% 2020 – 30.4% 2021 – 32.5% Again, not too much of a difference here. A bit higher but nothing too material. Here is where it really starts to get noticeable… Zone contact % 2019 – 74.6% 2020 – 64.4% 2021 – 55.1% Meatball % 2019 – 6.2% 2020 – 7.2% 2021 – 9.8% Meatball swing % 2019 – 78.0% 2020 – 80.3% 2021 – 74.4% He is getting more meatballs but swinging at them less. This caused me to look at the type of pitch he was seeing… 2019 Pitch % seen % whiff Fastball 65.7 30.9 Breaking 26.9 46.4 Offspeed 7.4 46.3 2020 Pitch % seen % whiff Fastball 60.6 41.0 Breaking 28.9 43.0 Offspeed 10.5 50.0 2021 Pitch % seen % whiff Fastball 53.6 47.6 Breaking 35.3 54.7 Offspeed 11.0 24.0

We all know most of the success of this team lays on Yelich and Hiura being as productive as they have been in the past. 2020 and 2021 have not been kind to them and there have been theories on injury, sign stealing, mechanical changes, coaching, etc, but I think its pretty easy to see what is so different by taking a look at the numbers provided by Baseball Savant. Let's start with Yelich... The first thing that pops out is his walk rate: 2018 - 10.4% 2019 - 13.8% 2020 - 18.6% 2021 - 17.1% In a vacuum, this is a good thing. He is getting on base. But digging a bit deeper its because he is taking more pitches and being less aggressive and letting the pitcher dictate the at bat... Swing% 2018 - 44.3% 2019 - 45.2% 2020 - 34.6% 2021 - 40.5% First pitch swing % 2018 - 28.9% 2019 - 29.7% 2020 - 13.4% 2021 - 17.1% Important to note here is he is getting less first pitch strikes the last two years compared to his 2019 season (2019 - 54.8%, 2020 - 50.6%, 2021 - 50.0%) Meatball swing % 2018 - 81.3% 2019 - 81.3% 2020 - 66.1% 2021 - 77.8% Whiff % 2018 - 22.8% 2019 - 28.2% 2020 - 33.6% 2021 - 30.6% Zone contact % 2018 - 85.4% 2019 - 83.8% 2020 - 78.1% 2021 - 78.1% Chase % 2018 - 25.1% 2019 - 27.9% 2020 - 17.7% 2021 - 17.1% Some of these numbers are very interesting but in summary - He is swinging less in total - particularly at the first pitch - missing more, - especially in the zone - but is also chasing less. It seems to me he is letting the pitcher dictate the at bat instead of ambushing the pitcher early. These are just a few metrics that jumped out to me but there is so much more they capture. I encourage you to take a look! https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/christian-yelich-592885?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb

Maybe then the David Robertson experiment can end. We have Jake Hager now too.

They need to get him back in there. He lost all of last year for development and has missed a ton of time this year already. Must be more serious than they originally thought.

I'm hoping Adames sticks in the two hole and CC gives up on Cain in that spot.

a bunt holy s***

Out of the entire team, he gives me the most confidence that something good will happen at the plate. Maybe they will leave him in the 2 hole instead of the black hole of Cain/Vogelbach/etc...

“If our hitting doesn’t scare you, our makeup will!”

That's kinda like a bunt

They tried to move them over there...I think?

Cool. A double. Pretty sure I've seen this one before and I know how it ends.

Houser is up this inning. Time for some offense.

I'm much more wait and see. I really hate the high leg lift. It works for some (Justin Turner) but its definitely tougher to get your timing right. Just imperative to get the foot down early.

Is Hiura still under warranty? Can we get a replacement? He's broken.

Agree. Getting hot for a few games in AAA doesn't equate to fixing the problems that got him sent down in the first place. I hope they had some kind of plan as to what they were going to work on when they sent him down. If they're trying to do something fairly major to his mechanics, it will take repetition over a prolonged period before those habits will stick and he won't fall back into his bad habits. At AAA, he can work on that and not worry about the results. At the MLB level, he can't. What's long-term good for Hiura is long-term good for the Brewers. He's not helping the Brewers by being on the MLB team now anyhow, so they might as well stick him in the minors until he's fixed, even if that means he's down there for months. As an added bonus, he can also learn how to play first base in the minors instead of at the MLB level. Do we have a hitting lab like the pitching lab Burnes was sent to?

Not sure if a week and a half of games is going to make all that much difference, but the numbers he was putting up in Nashville were certainly a night-and-day difference from what he's done so far this year in MLB, aside from a similarly high K rate. It will be interesting to see if his approach at the plate is any different. Seems a bit early to me. How can he turn things around this quickly? His AAA numbers are great but MLB pitching should be a lot different than AAA pitching. It would be a huge mistake to call him up to soon, then have him struggle right out of the gates again. Oh well, someone else gets paid to make those decisions. He was swinging and missing 90 mph meatballs right down the middle before he was sent down. Not sure if that was the case in AAA but those pitchers can at least give him those looks.

Which is why I said I never gave it much credence. I was just posing the question because a friend of mine keeps mentioning it and thought it would be a fun topic to post here.

Were there reports of him stealing signs? I've never heard this. Links would be great to these reports. Thanks. Reports? Not really a report, but Darvish seemed to think that the bullpen was relaying signs to Yelich. https://sports.yahoo.com/yu-darvish-comment-fuels-brewers-signstealing-speculation-christian-yelich-fires-back-234740903.html Yeah this is what I was referring to

I wonder what kind of affect the Astros cheating scandal has had on offensive decline across the league, especially the Brewers. The scandal broke in November 2019 and since then the Brewers offense has not been good, most notably Christian Yelich. I remember Yu Darvish calling out Yelich for sign stealing and other sources named the Astros, Rangers and Brewers as the biggest offenders. Yelich has been a shell of himself over the last two years. Strikeouts are WAY up and power is down. Were reports of him stealing signs actually true? Is this why he has struggled so much? It's hard for me to imagine his knee injury having this kind of affect on him unless he is just tentative up there afraid it may happen again. I never really gave it much credence but a buddy of mine keeps mentioning it so I thought it would be an interesting question to pose to the community here.

I sure hope not. He needs more time imo. I know he’s only had 30 ABs but he is slashing .433/.514/.833 so he clearly found something down there. Might as well bring him up while he is seeing the ball well.

Hiura was pulled from tonight’s game. Maybe he’s on his way up?

My buddy keeps saying Yelich is bad because after 2019 and the cheating scandal broke the Brewers had to change their ways. Never really gave it much credence but....it is kind of interesting, no?

He starts arbitration next year, so we do not control him for several more years. He's about to become expensive, which will become a real problem if his production doesn't return. In essence the real reason your baffled is because your stretching the facts. Brewers look at Turang as their starting SS in 2023. That was true before this trade and nothings changed. This is also wishful thinking. He is struggling to hit minor league pitching. Granted, he is still young and has very good discipline and contact skills, but lets hope he starts translating that to being a productive hitter.

Let's bring this full circle and trade for Aguilar at the deadline

I know hindsight is 20/20 but if Stearns just did nothing for the 4 months in 2019 that sent away Aguilar and Grisham/Davies, we could have a nice looking team. Grisham and Aguilar in this lineup sure would be nice.