Kyle Ginsbach

The Willy Adames trade paid massive dividends for the Brewers in 2021, but can Willy be the spark the Brewers offense needs for the second straight year? Willy Adames only appeared in 99 games for the Brewers last year, but without a shadow of a doubt, he was the team's best offensive player in the 2021 campaign. In case you are in need of a recap, Adames was dealt from the Rays to the Brewers in an early season trade which included Brewers relievers Drew Rasmussen and J.P. Feyereisen. With Adames now playing his home games at American Family Field instead of Tropicana Field, his offense took off, where he slashed .285/.366/.521 with a wRC+ of 135 in a Brewers uniform. His arrival also paid dividends for Luis Urias, giving Urias some much needed mental clarity, and unlocking Luis as a piece of a contending Brewers team. Oh, and he also received some NL MVP votes despite spending only 60% of his season in Milwaukee. Adames did all of this while quickly becoming a favorite among fans and his teammates alike, and without him, the Brewers might not have found themselves atop the NL Central at year's end. It’s been tougher for Adames in 2022 though, and there's no denying it. He has spent much of the season without looking like himself, and after an awkward slide in Miami, he found himself missing over two weeks of time on the IL with an ankle injury. He’s only hitting .200/.290/.467 in his time this year, making it safe to say 2022 hasn’t been the encore many had hoped for. Whether it's been the ideal season for Adames or not, there's still numerous reasons for optimism. He’s still been a plus with the bat despite his batting average sitting around the Mendoza line all season. He leads the Brewers in home runs with 11, is second on the team in RBIs despite him missing time, all while his OPS+ sits at 110, meaning Adames has been 10% better than league average. If the struggling version of Adames is still 10% better than league average, then it's safe to assume that better things may be to come. But can he be the spark the Brewers need right now? There are two places to which fans can look, starting with the recent 4-1 victory over Washington that snapped the Brewers eight-game losing streak. Adames carried the offense, driving in 3 of the 4 runs, en route to a victory over the Nationals on Sunday. If any player hopes to help carry a team, helping snap a losing skid is a good way to do it. The second place you can look into is the advanced metrics he's posted thus far. By using baseball savant, fans are able to see how players have performed with numbers provided by Statcast, are able to gauge how successful players have been compared to others, and use expected statistics to help with non-quantifiable factors, like luck. Statistics via Baseball Savant, accessed 6/13/2022 As a general rule of thumb for viewing baseball savant pages, the more red circles the better. For Adames, there's a lot of red appearing on his page. All of his contact statistics (Avg Exit Velocity, Max Exit Velocity, and HardHit%) are in the 58th percentile or better, meaning when Adames makes contact, the ball has been hit hard. His expected statistics are what really jump out at you though. His expected weighted on base average (xwOBA) puts him nearly in the top 10% of the league, despite his actual .290 OBP, and his expected batting average (xBA) is in the middle of the pack, despite hitting a mere .200. If you had doubts about Adames' ability to hit to power, his expected slugging places him in the top 5 percent of the league. The other category where he fares incredibly favorably is in his Barrel%. For those unfamiliar with what a 'barrel' is, the definition from mlb.com states, "The Barrel classification is assigned to batted-ball events whose comparable hit types (in terms of exit velocity and launch angle) have led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage since Statcast was implemented Major League wide in 2015." In plain terms, a barrel is a pitch that was crushed, and Adames is crushing the ball as often as anybody. If you're wondering why Adames hasn't seen any of the fruits of his labor with all of his hard contact, it can be explained with a combination of two things. Firstly, bad luck. You can safely assume with all of his expected statistics being average or better, than Adames has hit into some unfavorable luck. However, he also hasn't been making enough contact for his actual numbers to drift towards his expected ones. With both his K% and Whiff% in the bottom fourth of the league, it's clear that Adames has been missing pitches at too high of a rate. On the flip-side, even if Adames keeps striking out as often as usual, as long as he's hitting the ball the same way, he'll likely find more success. Another nugget of information worth mentioning is Adames' ability in the field. While the Brewers certainly don't expect a gold glove, him being such a plus in the field was part of the reason he was acquired in the first place. Statcast places him in the 95th percentile in Outs Above Average, all while he's only committed 5 errors so far. While fielding metrics are far from perfect, being on the plus side of them is never a bad thing. Even if you want to throw fielding metrics out the window, it's safe to say he has passed the eye test playing shortstop too. With momentum going for the first time in over a week, and off day on Monday, the Brewers have a chance to regroup and look within for the spark offensively they need to regain the lead in the NL Central. They shouldn't have to look far though, as the embers of Adames' hot streak from the previous season are still burning, and it isn't going to take much fuel to get going again. View full article

For the last half decade fans and analysts alike have listed the Brewers bullpen as an area of strength, and potential catalyst of their success. Without much of a second thought, this expectation carried into the current season. The results have been mixed. But fans shouldn't worry. Prior to Wednesday's game against the Phillies, the Brewers pen was at 10th overall in both ERA and WHIP, and in that same area for home runs and walks surrendered. Statistically speaking, this may sound like business as usual for the Brewers. But if you had to pick two adjectives to describe the relief performances this year, both “strong” and “inconsistent” may come to mind. In terms of volume, manager Craig Counsell’s usage of the bullpen has been lower than most might expect, even with all the injuries to starters. In fact, they’ve only logged 200.2 innings as of June 8th, which places the Brewers bullpen usage in the bottom third of the league. Early in the season, the Crew took a big blow to the middle relief core when Jake Cousins went down with an elbow injury, where he currently sits on the 60-Day IL. Players like Jandel Gustave and J.C. Mejía (see below) failed to provide the value the Brewers hoped for one way or another, and neither currently find themselves on the big league roster. When more innings were demanded from the bullpen, Trevor Kelly and Peter Strzelecki earned unexpected call-ups, and produced undesirable results. Even Brewers veteran Brent Suter, who the Brewers have relied on in the past to eat innings, has been shaky, posting an earned run average north of 5. Unsurprisingly though, the backend of the bullpen has remained as strong as ever. Josh Hader has continued his historical dominance, converting 18/19 save chances, all while only surrendering runs in one of those appearances. And even though his outings have been stressful, Devin Williams and the aptly named “airbender” have continued to lock up the 8th inning. Even Brad Boxberger, the Brewers leader in innings the past season, has pitched well in his 7th inning role. Newcomer Trevor Gott has also turned in solid work at points. Is there any reason for worry here? Probably not. There truly hasn't been any real cause for concern. Injuries and bad relief appearances happen. And although the bullpen is still a strength, it isn’t in the same way it was 4 years ago. You aren’t going to see 5+ innings of scoreless relief anywhere near the commonality that there was 2018. The 2022 Brewers team can rely on their starters to go into the 6th and 7th inning, and shouldn’t have to rely on overwhelming depth. The strength isn't in quantity, it's in the quality. In case you need more proof, take a look at Josh Hader’s statcast statistics compared to his previous seasons. If you ever needed any proof of his dominance, these could easily serve as evidence for his best season ever. Statistics via Baseball Savant, accessed 6/08/2022 So, you can scratch the 9th inning off your worries. Heck, you can probably safely scratch off the 7th and 8th inning while you're at it, as both Devin Williams and Brad Boxberger's work over the past year and a half should speak for itself. If you do this, the big picture becomes clear. Whether it's Burnes, Woodruff, Peralta, Lauer, Ashby, or Houser starting on any given night, if they can turn in 5-6 innings of quality work, the team is left with a maximum of 3 outs to worry about from the other 4 relievers in the pen. So you wanted to know what to make of the Brewers pen? I wouldn't worry, It's fitting right where it needs to. View full article

There have been some frustrating stretches for the Brewers offense thus far in 2022, and no one has been affected more than the outfield core. Hunter Renfroe got off to a slow start before heating up (then landing on the IL), while both Christain Yelich and Andrew Mcuthchen have cooled over the past weeks, all while veteran Lorenzo Cain has yet to find his groove at all. Then there’s Tyrone Taylor. He certainly hasn’t been immune to struggles in 2022, but when his name has been consistently etched into Craig Counsell's lineup, Taylor has started to put up consistent results. Tyrone Taylor’s rise has happened faster than most fans might think. Ever since his call up in September of 2019, Taylor’s only logged 168 games, just over a season total of 162. The Brewers have always liked his tools, like his lightning quick hands at the plate, his raw power to left field, and general quickness in the outfield, but they've always found it difficult to save Taylor a slot in the lineup. This year, that problem is slowly beginning to fade. On a surface level, Taylor has been solid, but not great. He’s slashing .242/.294/.455 with a OPS+ of 108. This can be attributed to his first month of season, where he only posted 73 plate appearances in his time in-and-out of the lineup, and only ended up hitting a measly .195 without a homerun, and only a single walk. However, with Andrew Mcuthechen and Hunter Renfroe missing time, Tyrone has seen more consistent playing time in May where he's hit .264 with 6 round-trippers, and a WRC+ of 128. With all the Talent Tyrone possess, there's one key to his success that he has, and needs to continue to improve on. The Whiff, or as it's more commonly known as: the "swing and miss." Taylor's always been a free swinger, and this years its been no different. His chase rate remains in the lower third of the MLB, however, Taylor remains in the upper half in terms of K% and Whiff%. So long as Taylor remains diligent, and is able to put the ball in play, good things will continue to happen. Offensively, it might be a long season for the MLB, Brewers included. If Milwaukee is looking for someone to lean on it a tight spot, it would being doing an injustice not to throw Taylor's name in the pot.