Jason Wang

Despite some concerns before the start of the season, Milwaukee’s lineup has been knocking it out of the park in the early going. The question is, is this a true vision of the team’s future, or a cruel mirage? Image courtesy of © Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports So far, the Brewers have exceeded offensive expectations and have the second-highest OPS in baseball at .795, right behind the Braves at .841. They're hitting home runs in 3.6 percent of their plate appearances, second only to Baltimore. Teams like the Dodgers, Orioles, and Atlanta were expected to be major threats at the plate this year, but other than adding Rhys Hoskins, the Brewers didn’t do much upgrading this winter, and they were in the bottom bucket for offensive performance last year. Furthermore, Hoskins is just the seventh-best qualified hitter by OPS+ on the team. What’s going on? As of now, there are a few players with somewhat lopsided statistics steering the ship. A few of them have been around those numbers before, but for others, their figures are so anomalous that a return to Earth is bound to happen soon. Let’s break down the top three hitters so far, to see if they’re going to finish strong or struggle soon. Christian Yelich - .333/.422/.744 The last time he averaged similar numbers for an entire season, he seemed like a future franchise great and had fully healthy knees and a (mostly) functional back. However, the years since that 2019 run have been marred by relative mediocrity, with a slight resurgence in 2023. In his first 46 plate appearances of the season, Yelich seemed like he was back in MVP form. He was doing everything well - hitting the ball hard to all fields, avoiding strikeouts, and walking when he needed to. More importantly, his launch angle was up to 11.7 degrees, nearly identical to the 11.3-degree launch angle he had in 2019. From 2020-2023, his average launch angle ranged from 2.8 to 3.6 degrees, creating far more ground balls than ever before. His 2024 ground ball rate of 45.2% is more than 10% lower than the average ground ball rate of his past few seasons. Unfortunately, it seems that Yelich has truly been cursed by the gods. He was recently placed on the 10-day IL due to a back strain. He’s had persistent issues throughout his baseball career with his back, and it seems they aren’t going away anytime soon. How this strain will affect his swing, bat path, bat speed, and other key characteristics of his hitting is yet to be seen, but it probably won’t be good. The concerns should be more focused on his launch angle than anything else, as his exit velocities have stayed remarkably consistent since his debut in 2015. William Contreras - .358/.443/.597 You don’t have to be a Brewer fanatic (see what I did there?) to know that Contreras is one of the best catchers in baseball. In 2023, he was a plus defender and had the highest OPS out of all qualified catchers. With a mark of .825, he surpassed the likes of Adley Rutschman, Will Smith, and J.T. Realmuto. He’s off to another torrid start so far in 2024, leading the team in hits (24) and RBI (17). One of the biggest changes seems to be in his average exit velocity. He’s scorching balls at an average speed of 96.0 mph, a big jump from his 2023 average of 91.3 mph. If we take a look at his hard-hit balls from 2023 vs. what sort of pitches he’s seeing in 2024, we can start to make sense of this. Of the batted balls with an exit velocity of 95 mph or greater in 2023, many of them were down the middle or inside. This seems to be right where he likes it. If we look at his hard-hit balls from 2024 though, things seem to have reflected across the y-axis. Furthermore, if you look at all of the pitches he’s received so far in 2024, you can see that pitchers tend to pitch him away (which is pretty standard). The adjustments he’s made to hit outside pitches seem to be working wonders so far. I doubt that Contreras will be able to sustain his stay in the 1.000 OPS club for very long, and as opposing teams get better scouting information on him, expect his numbers to regress slightly, but I think there are signs that a lasting and valuable adjustment has been made. It's yet to be seen if he's maintained his ability to hit inside pitches as well as he did in 2023. If so, I bid good luck to all opposing pitchers tasked with facing this young man. Blake Perkins - .324/.390/.486 Technically, Willy Adames barely edges out Perkins as the third-most productive Brewer, but Perkins is a far more interesting case to analyze. While Adames has shown an ability to be a top-tier hitter, Perkins is barely more than a rookie, with just over 200 major-league plate appearances to his name. His 2023 OPS of .675 wasn’t much to write home about but that’s what makes this year’s performance that much more intriguing. Unfortunately for him, his numbers might be the least sustainable of the players mentioned so far. First and foremost, his xBA of .256 and xSLG of .356 are both significantly lower than his actual numbers. Of his 12 total hits thus far, two have been home runs and 10 have been singles, and several of the singles could probably have been ruled errors. For example, take this ball that was ruled a single after a rough fielding job by Pete Alonso. Or this close call on a bunt to Jeimer Candelario: His other hits are slightly more legitimate, but could also have been let through due to wacky fielder positioning or other external factors, things that bring down his expected hitting numbers to be a little more average. The Brewers outfield is a bit of a confusing mess right now, worsened by the Yelich injury, so I’m sure fans are happy to have any effective hitting they can get. Don’t expect these halcyon times to last, but Perkins is such a good defender that he can be valuable even if he can't keep up this production in the box. View full article

jake while writing this article

After a disappointing 2023, there were questions about whether the Milwaukee Brewers' star shortstop would be able to return to his former self. So far in 2024, the answer seems to be yes, but what does that mean for his future with the team? Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports Last year brought mixed results for Willy Adames. He was one of the best defenders in all of baseball, accumulating 16 Outs Above Average (OAA), sixth-highest for any position. He also ranked sixth in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) among shortstops, with 8. Unfortunately, his bat couldn’t keep up with his glove; his .717 OPS was the lowest figure for any full season in his career. It wasn’t obvious why he struggled so badly, since his exit velocity and strikeout rates were in line with his career averages, but let’s take a closer look at what happened. First, let’s dig into what sort of pitches he struggled with the most. While the pitch he had the lowest average against was the four-seam fastball (.195), he was able to make up some ground by slugging .436 and logging a hard-hit rate of 50% against them. The pitch against which he had lowest wOBA (.281) and xwOBA (.290) was the slider, the real bane of his existence in 2023. When you break down the sliders he put in play, it sort of makes sense. This graphic shows all of the sliders that Adames put in play last season colored by exit velocity. As you can see, sliders that were left in the heart of the zone were hit pretty hard, but many of these pitches he put in play were down and away. Those are tough pitches to hit hard. Contrast this with the same graph for the four-seam fastballs he put in play last year. Against four-seam fastballs, he kept a pretty tight strike zone, and even managed to knock a few high fastballs. It seems that he was simply fooled by the slider far more frequently, chasing pitches that should've just been taken. He had a whiff rate of 41.4% against the slider. It may have mostly been the slider, but it wasn't entirely the slider. As stated earlier, his strikeout rate was around his career average (it was actually lower, by 1.6%), but his chase rate was the highest it’s ever been, at 31.8%. Here are all of the pitches he put into play in 2023. So far this year, he’s stayed far more disciplined, and hasn’t expanded the zone quite as much. It’s a small sample size, but it shows promise that he’s started to make the necessary adjustments to his approach. The numbers back this up, with his plate discipline numbers showing a marked improvement over last year. Again, it's a small sample size of just 40 plate appearances thus far, but being a Willy Adames redemption arc believer is fun, so let’s try it anyway. 2023 2024 Chase% 31.8 22.2 Whiff% 31.0 23.2 K% 25.9 11.4 BB% 11.1 14.3 If we zoom back out to examine less geeky stats, we see an improved slash line of .257/.350/.457, a big bump in offense that the Brewers will need if they’d like to stay competitive. So what does this mean for his future with the Brewers? To me, a random dude who’s never played a game of organized baseball in his life, the answer is that it depends on how you feel about Milwaukee’s available depth at shortstop. In the farm system, the top-ranked shortstop prospect is Cooper Pratt, who has an ETA of 2027; that's still a ways away. At the major-league level, the team has Joey Ortiz and Brice Turang listed as backups. Both have some professional shortstop experience, but both are also filling other important infield roles, so if they move in to take Adames’s place, someone else will have to take theirs. Overall, it seems like the Brewers aren’t too wealthy in the middle infield department, which might mean that they’re more incentivized to try and get Adames to stay. All that said, he will be a free agent in 2025 and is probably hoping for a pretty sizable long-term contract. As you, dear reader, are likely well aware, Milwaukee and sizable long-term contracts are not often used in the same sentence (without some negating adjective). On the other hand, a lukewarm 2023 could affect his market value in 2025, barring some huge offensive resurgence this year, so maybe he’ll still end up being affordable. Maybe he takes a Carlos Correa-esque short-term deal to boost his stock price again? Who knows for sure? What we do know for sure is that great shortstops come at a premium. Francisco Lindor, Corey Seager, Trea Turner, and Bobby Witt Jr. are all on contracts worth more than $280 million. Heck, you might even throw Mookie Betts in there, since he’s apparently a shortstop now. Even if Adames isn’t in that S-tier of comparable players, my personal belief is that he’ll probably get at least $100 million in free agency, a price tag the Brewers probably won’t meet. Ultimately, I don't think Adames will be in Brewers colors come 2025. For now, though, there's evidence that he's on track for a great 2024, and that's great news for the team, whether they're looking to shop him in July or hoping to ride him to a 'ship in October. View full article

In addition to having a mustache for the ages, Thomas spent 11 years as an outfielder with the Brewers, and his playing days were almost as glorious as his flavor saver. Image courtesy of © The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-USA TODAY NETWORK Born in South Carolina, Gorman Thomas had an upbringing similar to many current and future major leaguers. His father was a former minor league pitcher, and Gorman was a generally gifted athlete, earning varsity letters for football, basketball, track, and baseball. His professional career started in 1969 after being drafted in the first round by the Seattle Pilots, the newest faces in Major League Baseball. After just one year of logistical errors and plumbing mishaps, the Pilots moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers we know and love today. Despite being their first-ever draft pick, the team would collapse before Thomas could make it out of rookie ball. With the Brewers, he quickly rose through the ranks of the minor leagues and debuted in 1973. In 1975, he officially graduated from minor league farmhand to major-league bench player and had only 547 plate appearances in 1975 and 1976 combined. On the bright side, he got to hang out with a pretty cool guy named Henry Aaron (not sure if you’ve heard of him; I think he hit a couple of home runs or something like that) during the last two years of his career. Every year in the 70s was funky, but 1977 was especially so for Gorman Thomas. He spent the entire year in Triple A and then was traded to the Texas Rangers as part of a “player-to-be-named-later” deal that brought outfielder Ed Kirkpatrick to the Brewers. Dan O’Brien Sr, the general manager of the Rangers at the time, saw the deal as a simple, friendly gesture and had no intentions of actually using Thomas. Instead, Brewers general manager Harry Dalton needed to open a roster spot over the winter and asked O’Brien to hold onto Thomas for a few months. He returned to the Brewers in February 1978, just in time to start the season in Milwaukee. For the next five years, Thomas was the starting center fielder for an upstart Brewers team that went from the laughing stock of the division at the beginning of the decade to Game 7 of the World Series in 1982. He was pretty productive, slashing .245/.339/.505 over his nearly 3,000 plate appearances. He was a great power threat for the team, leading the American League in home runs in 1979 with 45 and 1982 with 39. He also led major league baseball in strikeouts in 1979 with 175 and in 1980 with 170. Essentially, he walked so Kyle Schwarber could run. Despite his valiant efforts, he received just one All-Star nod in 1981 and some MVP votes in 1979 and 1982. In total, he would hit 208 home runs for Milwaukee. One black spot on his legacy is undoubtedly his lack of playoff success. Of his 65 playoff plate appearances in his career, he slashed a measly .102/.169/.203. Game 2 of the 1982 World Series against the Cardinals was a one-run game, so if Gorman had hit a little better instead of going 0-3 at the plate, the Brew Crew have had enough to claim their long-awaited World Series trophy. His career with the Crew ended in June 1983 after he was dealt to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for Rick Manning and Rick Waits. His hitting had quickly started to decline, and he’d have one more good year with the Seattle Mariners in 1985 before returning to the Brewers as a designated hitter in 1986 and hanging up the cleats at the conclusion of the season. Overall, Gorman Thomas ranks 17th all-time in Baseball-Reference WAR with the Brewers at 18.4 and is known as a franchise great. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Brewers Wall of Honor in 2014. For much of his life and personality, it seems he was created in a facility to embody all the ideal characteristics of a Brewers player. He opened a bar with teammate Pete Vuckovich called Stormin’ & Vuke’s. He spent much of his time in retirement doing manly things like hunting, carving duck decoys, and collecting artwork. Sure, he never won an MVP, a Silver Slugger, or dated Marilyn Monroe, but that’s not what baseball’s about, is it? View full article

cubs fans on twitter when families of 4 are able to afford attending a game of Brewers baseball

Really hope this is the result of actual adjustments to approach and not just a fluke to start the season off. The worst part about baseball is having to wait and see if things are for real or just random. If Brice Turang can be even a 100 OPS+ hitter, that would be such a huge boost to this team's offense over last year, especially with Hoskins and Yelich balling out.

Jackson Chourio is a month over the age of 20 and has so much time to build strength to increase his power. The same goes for his fielding, especially since he hasn't really played much right field in his minor league career. Not everyone can have an age-20 season like Mike Trout or Alex Rodriguez but what matters is the long con anyway. In their ZiPS projections for the Brewers, Szymborski even stated that Chourio was projected to be about league-average offensively to start but have immense future value.

In the first major league game of his career, Chourio showed off a few of the reasons that he’s one of the best prospects in baseball. Image courtesy of © Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports Jackson Chourio was one of several new Brewers faces that helped kick off the 2024 season against the New York Mets, but he was the one that people were probably watching the closest. Because making his major league debut wasn’t enough pressure, he was also set to hit leadoff. He answered the call, drawing a walk against José Quintana in just four pitches. He followed this up with a stolen base, immediately placing himself into scoring position and putting his 70-grade speed tool on display. To Francisco Alvarez’s credit, he was quite close, and had the pitch not taken an extra bounce in the dirt, he might’ve made the out. His next highlight came while playing in right field. There has been a bit of a learning curve as he adapts to playing in the corners of the outfield rather than the middle, and he’s gone on record saying that mastering his new defensive position is an immediate goal. In the bottom of the third inning, Chourio made a great catch to steal a potential double from Brandon Nimmo. He also managed to record his first career hit, a single to right field in the top of the fifth inning. It had an exit velocity of 91.0 mph, which wasn't the hardest ball ever recorded, but it was a great example of his hitting abilities. Jose Quintana’s pitch was a good changeup down and away, but it was tough for most batters to work with. In his final plate appearance of the day, Chourio grounded into a force out but scored Jake Bauers, notching his first career RBI, becoming the youngest player in MLB history with at least one stolen base and RBI in his debut. He made another catch to put out Starling Marte in the same inning. All in all, it was a productive day for the young rookie. While the two catches he made in the outfield weren’t the greatest ones ever recorded, they show that he’s starting to get a little more comfortable in right field. One could make the argument that the only reason he had to jump for either catch was because he was out of position or got a bad jump/read, but that means that once he does begin to master his new role, his athleticism will augment his fielding range by that much more. One game isn’t very significant, but it’s encouraging to see positive signs so early. He’ll likely slow down soon and have to make some adjustments, which is when we’ll see if he’s everything that scouts have told us. For those who hadn't seen him play in the minor leagues, hopefully, this helped to prove that he's a special talent with a bright future ahead of him. For Brewers and baseball fans alike, watching him flourish will be a privilege. View full article

With the roster for Opening Day set, who can we expect to be playing right field for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2024--and how well? Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports Right field was a bit of a revolving door last year. With Christian Yelich getting the lion’s share of reps in left field and Joey Wiemer getting most of the starts in center, right field was split more evenly among Tyrone Taylor, Blake Perkins, and Sal Frelick. Now that the team's shiny prospect has been officially been called up, is the situation more stable? The Starter: Jackson Chourio 2023 MLB Stats: Did Not Play - Minor Leagues; 2023 Double-A Stats: 122 G, 559 PA, .280/.336/.467, 22 HR, 23 2B 2024 ZiPS Projections: 130 G, 560 PA, .258/.305/.411, 17 HR, 1.4 fWAR Scouting Report: The hottest story of the offseason has been all about Chourio, and waiting to see whether he would make the Opening Day roster. It's now been confirmed that he'll play in the first game of the season but will be slotted in right field instead of his usual spot in center, spending the last few weeks of spring training in his new position. There are a few pros to this, all of which are broken down in great detail by Matt Trueblood, but it boils down to giving him a chance to acclimate to the major leagues while reducing injury risk. At just a few weeks over the age of 20, he's got a long way to go before he becomes the player that scouts have him cracked up to be. For a player on whom so much rides (especially given his sizable contract), the Brewers will do as much as they can to protect their investment. He hit well in spring training, slashing .323/.373/.403 over 67 plate appearances with two doubles and a triple. Although he has made a few errors in right field, he is known to be an excellent defender and won an MiLB Gold Glove Award in 2022. It wouldn't be surprising to see him iron out any kinks after getting more reps in his new role. However, one of the main downsides of placing Chourio in right field is that his best tool, his 70-grade speed, won't be as beneficial. On the other hand, playing a less demanding defensive position will allow him to focus on his performance at the plate, a tradeoff the Brewers would be happy to make given their relatively low projected offensive numbers. Either way, expect him to make even more great catches in 2024. Other Options: While Chourio's ascent into the show has been the biggest story of the spring, the team's second-biggest story this offseason was Sal Frelick getting reps at third base and being groomed to be the starter at that position. He has now been moved back to the outfield, given the recent Garrett Mitchell injury, and it seems like he'll be placed in center. Nevertheless, right field was where Frelick spent most of his time in 2023, logging 246 ⅓ innings as opposed to 196 innings spent in center, so the team might still use him as a flex option if needed. Frelick is an excellent baseball talent. While not as flashy as some of the other young players in today’s game, he profiles much like your great-grandfather’s favorite baseball player. Although he struggled to barrel the ball consistently, his excellent plate discipline numbers helped to lift his offense to more acceptable levels. He may have added a little more pop to his swing in the offseason, slashing .273/.365/.491 with two home runs and four doubles in spring training, but only time will tell whether he can sustain this success against major-league pitching. His non-hitting-related tools are what make him such a valuable player. He played excellent defense in 2023, posting 7 Outs Above Average (OAA) and 6 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), great numbers for a relatively short stint in the bigs. It’ll be hard to forget the two catches he made in his debut against the Braves. His excellent speed is also a huge boost to his range as a defender. As a prospect, he received a grade of 70 for his speed tool and boasted top-quartile sprint speed. This also helps compensate for his apparent lack of power, because it enables him to beat out certain ground balls and stretch singles into extra-base hits. After Frelick, the third name on the depth chart would be Blake Perkins. His primary role in 2023 was in right field as well, although he saw slightly less time than Frelick, logging just 190 total innings. His profile paints him to be a slightly watered-down version of Frelick, with similar weaknesses when it comes to power but a significantly higher strikeout rate, at 27.4%. Interestingly, his chase and walk rates of 16.8% and 13.7% were both better than Frelick’s. Perkins also had a stellar glove in right field, also posting 7 OAA and 8 DRS, helped by his best-in-class sprint speed and top-tier arm strength. Perkins was the ninth-fastest player in MLB--not bad given the class of competition, which included Elly De La Cruz, Bobby Witt Jr., Trea Turner, and Corbin Carroll. Ultimately, it wouldn’t be the end of the world to utilize Perkins, but it would mean sacrificing even more offensive production, a price that may be too hefty for this Brewers squad. Another dark-horse candidate for right field could be Joey Wiemer, who just missed out on the Opening Day roster. He spent pretty much all of his time in center field, but he’s a scrappy fella who could be slotted in very soon if the team finds itself in a worst-case scenario. He hits the ball a little harder than his two co-workers mentioned above, but his plate discipline pales in comparison. Overall, his great defense and mediocre offense continue the existing theme among Brewers right-fielders. The Big Question: The biggest uncertainty is exactly how long we should expect Chourio to remain in right field. What does the team need to see before bumping him to center? Is that something they foresee happening at any point in the year? Furthermore, if the Brewers are dissatisfied with Joey Ortiz and/or Andruw Monasterio at third base, how does moving Frelick to the infield shake things up? Would his place be taken by a healthy Mitchell, or someone else in a crowded Milwaukee outfield? When discussing any young, unproven talents, we often have more questions than answers. He might not show off his true potential until a few years from now, and it remains to be seen if starting him off in right field is actually the right decision from a roster construction standpoint, but hey, you never know. Baseball is a fickle sport, but isn't that exactly why we all love it so much? 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What players on the major league depth chart will have to make stuff work or potentially be subjected to waivers in 2024? Image courtesy of © Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports Jake Bauers Bauers was acquired from the Yankees in exchange for Jace Avina and Brian Sánchez and was initially slated to be the team’s starting first baseman, much to the dismay of quite a few Brewer Fanatic readers. Fortunately for these readers, the Brewers later signed Rhys Hoskins, and Bauers fell to the second spot in the depth chart. He isn’t expected to see much playing time at all, with FanGraphs projecting him to have just 175 plate appearances this season. This makes sense, given the generally superior option in Hoskins. Despite being at the top of the depth chart for the DH role, his competition with William Contreras, Christian Yelich, and newly signed Gary Sanchez makes it unlikely that he'll stay the first option for long. Furthermore, he struggled quite a bit as a hitter in 2023, slashing .202/.279/.413 in New York for an OPS+ of 87 over 272 plate appearances. He had great barrel and hard-hit rates, but with a 34.9% strikeout rate, it wasn’t enough to lift his offensive output to a league-average level. Combined with subpar defense and playing a position with heavy-hitting expectations, he accumulated -0.9 rWAR to bring his career rWAR to -1.5. He still has a few years of team control left and won’t be eligible for free agency until 2027, but with no options left, it seems like he’ll ultimately end up on waivers or in a trade package for something else. Eric Haase Similar to Bauers, Haase’s role on the team seems a little confusing from the outside. The Brewers already have William Contreras and now Gary Sanchez, who are far better options behind the dish. After being outrighted to Triple A by the Guardians, he elected free agency and signed a one-year deal with Milwaukee, likely a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option after Victor Caratini’s departure to Houston. Similar to Bauers, Haase was below replacement level in 2023, slashing .201/.247/.281 for a measly OPS+ of 45 and an rWAR of -0.9. He didn’t do anything particularly well on offense or defense aside from playing in the outfield for 140 innings. In addition to having offensive production roughly 50% worse than league average, he posted -5 blocks above average and was below average in framing for every part of the strike zone except one. He’ll be a free agent in 2027 and was exceptionally cheap to acquire. In a worst-case scenario, he’s a fun spring training experiment for the infamous Brewers catching lab that eventually returns to the waivers or is traded to another team. Joel Payamps Payamps is among the many underrated relievers sitting around in the Brewers bullpen. Posting a 2.55 ERA and 1.05 WHIP over 70 ⅔ innings last season, he also accumulated the most strikeouts of his career by far at 77. He notched a strikeout per nine figure of 9.8, a significant improvement over his career average of 6.7 entering 2023. He made significant improvements to his entire arsenal, but his four-seam fastball saw the most drastic statistical increase. His fastball went from a .362 wOBA in 2022 to just a .179 wOBA in 2023, driving its total run value up to 12. While this could be due to many reasons, one possibility could be a greater focus on keeping the fastball elevated. Here are heat maps of pitch frequency and wOBA for all of his four-seamers in 2022. He gave up the most damage on the lower parts of the zone and the fastballs that ended up on the middle-left portion (from the pitcher's perspective). So, how did he fix this in 2023? He just threw the fastball higher and went to the other side, jamming right-handed batters and avoiding left-handed ones. These strides were big, and with Devin Williams’s recent injury, Payamps may even step into an even higher leverage role for the beginning of 2024. Despite being out of options, it seems he’ll reach free agency in 2027 safe and sound, hopefully choosing to spend his best years with the Brewers. Bryse Wilson Bryse Wilson had a great comeback story last year. After five brutal years in Atlanta and Pittsburgh as a starter, he had a cumulative ERA of 5.54 over 56 starts. After being traded to Milwaukee for cash considerations, things turned around massively. He posted a 2.58 ERA out of the bullpen. He was given the title of long reliever, often coming in for multi-inning relief appearances and accumulating six wins and three saves. His success was partially driven by a reduced workload and increased cutter usage. Throughout his career, he’s struggled late into starts, with opposing batters posting a .976 OPS on the third time through the order. He also started using a cutter sparingly in 2022 and saw some success with it, achieving a batting average against of just .077. In 2023, it became his second-most used pitch (although he threw just three fewer cutters than sinkers) and got more good results, this time getting a batting-average-against of .165 over 401 pitches. The sinker/cutter combination synergized well with his high fastball, and although his strikeout rate was still below average, his flyball rate was 31%, 6% higher than his career average before that point. Wilson’s role on the team is incredibly valuable. There are signs that he may have benefited more from luck than intrinsically good pitching, namely the difference in his FIP of 4.13 and his ERA of 2.58, but we’ll need more data in a Brewers uniform before we can make a firm conclusion. It seems like his place is as a reliever rather than starter, but he can stretch into two or three innings if needed. He’ll be a free agent in 2027, but until then, he’ll be an integral part of the Brewers bullpen. Colin Rea Before this season, Rea never had a stable job on an MLB team. His most active season was making 18 starts with the Padres in 2016 and pitching to a 4.98 ERA. After two stints in the Japanese NPB, he signed a minor league contract with the Brewers and was quickly called up, holding down his place at the back end of the rotation for most of the season. A no-frills kind of guy (typical of an Iowa native, if we’re being honest), his ERA and WHIP for the 2023 season were 4.55 and 1.19, pretty solid numbers for a fifth arm. With Corbin Burnes long gone and Woodruff on the injured list for most of the season, Rea will have to step up and take on an outsized role on a rotation that seemingly pales compared to the 2023 Brewers squad. On one hand, that might add pressure and impede his ability to perform at the highest level. On the other hand, the lack of available major-league quality starters to compete with gives him a slightly bigger margin for error. He signed a one-year contract to stay with the team and has a club option for 2025, so it seems like the front office has faith in his ability to be a consistent contributor. View full article

from now on i'm just going to spell out the entire thing as "runs batted in" just to be safe.

Is it "rib-bees"?

The roster for the inaugural Spring Breakout is full of the best talent in the Milwaukee Brewers’ farm system. Who are some guys to keep your eyes on? Image courtesy of © Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports In case you haven’t heard, Spring Breakout is a new minor league showcase that aims to spotlight the game’s most exciting up-and-coming talent. Over the course of four days, each major-league team will field a roster of its top prospects to play against each other, on the same day and at the same field as a game between the big-league versions of the same two clubs. As a team with one of the best farm systems in baseball, Milwaukee’s roster for the weekend is fearsome, to say the least. They’ll be trotting out all of their top-10 ranked prospects, except for likely big-leaguer Joey Ortiz, and will have 24 of their top 30 prospects represented, according to MLB Pipeline--tied with the Royals for the most. Outside of the obvious names to watch (like Jackson Chourio, Jacob Misiorowski, Jeferson Quero, and Tyler Black), there are a few other prospects who have been tearing it up in the Cactus League. Wes Clarke has been a demon in his 17 spring training plate appearances thus far, slugging 1.000 and hitting a whopping four home runs. He’s been able to continue the momentum he had in the Arizona Fall League, where he slashed .297/.435/.568 over 92 plate appearances. Brock Wilken has also been on a tear as of late, posting an 1.818 OPS over 11 plate appearances with four RBI and two doubles. If he continues to perform at a high level, there’s a chance for him to be a legitimate contributor in the hot corner, with the future of the position still somewhat in flux. Although he is part of the aforementioned group of prominent players to watch, it is worth noting that Quero has displayed impressive defensive abilities behind the dish, limiting the run game in a big way. On the pitching side, no one other than Bryse Wilson has logged more than four innings so it’s hard to tell what’s what, but Robert Gasser is still an interesting name to follow heading into the season given his expected role in the back of the rotation. He’s pitched just three innings in spring training thus far, though. Here is the complete list of names currently slated to play against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday, March 17 at 3:05 PM CT: PITCHERS Jacob Misiorowski, RHP Robert Gasser, LHP Carlos Rodriguez, RHP Josh Knoth, RHP Logan Henderson, RHP Bradley Blalock, RHP Bishop Letson, RHP Patricio Aquino, RHP Shane Smith, RHP Justin Yeager, RHP CATCHER Jeferson Quero, C INFIELDERS Tyler Black, 3B Brock Wilken, 3B Cooper Pratt, SS Eric Brown Jr., SS Eric Bitonti, 3B Mike Boeve, 3B Luke Adams, 3B Daniel Guilarte, SS Juan Baez, SS Wes Clarke, 1B OUTFIELDERS Jackson Chourio, OF Luis Lara, OF Yophery Rodriguez, OF Dylan O'Rae, OF Who are you most excited to see? This showcase could merely display the blazing talent of Chourio, or it could raise the celebrity of someone like Yophery Rodriguez or Luis Lara. At any rate, the game should be a joy to watch. View full article

Spring training is a great time to get a sneak peek at Brewers players heading into a fresh season, but no player has more eyes on him than Jackson Chourio. How should fans expect him to hold up at the major league level in 2024? Image courtesy of © Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports It makes sense that a player with a record-breaking contract extension has high expectations. Meant to be the future face of the franchise, Jackson Chourio is an exceptionally well-rounded talent with incredible speed and fielding. He played an outstanding center field in Double A last year and stole 43 bases, earning his 70-grade run tool and a minor-league Gold Glove for his troubles. Expanding on these tools, MLB.com had this to say: Offensively, he had a strong slash line of .280/.336/.467 over 559 plate appearances but that only tells part of the story. He also had a strikeout rate of 18.4% with a walk rate of 7.3%, notably walking at a much higher 10.8% when facing lefty pitching. While we don’t have a ton of great data on things like slugging percentage by zone or exit velocity for Double A, we do have spray charts and boy do they thicken the plot. While many players tend to land most of their batted balls and home runs to one side of the ballpark, Chourio is truly capable of hitting to all parts of the field, making it difficult for opposing defenders to position against him. Here’s a spray chart for all of his hits with the Shuckers in 2023. While one might expect a power righty to pull most of home runs to left field, Chourio defies expectations and has roughly the same amount of home runs on both sides. Many of his singles actually went up the middle to right field. If he does make the opening day roster and sticks around, we’ll get to see how he adjusts the major league pitching, quite the step up from Double A. We got a taste of how much he’s already improved this offseason by seeing him post a .984 OPS over 75 plate appearances in the Venezuelan Winter League, a big improvement over the .644 OPS he posted in the same league last year. He has also played in just one spring training game thus far, going 2-for-4 with two RBI against the Padres. For the season ahead, ZiPS has him projected to slash .263/.306/.408 for a slightly below-average wRC+ of 92, but has incredible long-term numbers according to Dan Szymborski. This is an important note, as it can be easy to forget that he’ll be a fresh-faced 20-year old on opening day and his contract is an investment into the future. Chourio has a long way to go, but he’s a top prospect for a reason. It won’t be long before he earns the title of “legit” big-leaguer. How do you think Chourio will perform in his rookie year? What do you think are his main areas of improvement? Let us know in the comments? View full article

I very conveniently get a free subscription through my Seattle Mariners season ticket package which ironically means I watch way more Brewers games than Mariners games due to blackout restrictions.

Is Bally Sports Wisconsin still the home of Brewers baseball this year, or is Amazon Prime the new kid on the block? Image courtesy of © Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports It’s no secret that regional sports networks have been struggling over the past few years. After Diamond Sports Group (the operator of the Bally Sports networks) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2023, it seemed like things had taken a turn for the worse. In January of this year, it was announced that Amazon had made a $115-million investment in the company, acquiring access to the streaming rights currently owned by Diamond. This portfolio included a total of 40 teams, 11 of which are MLB. However, only five of these teams have their digital rights owned by Diamond Sports Group. One of those teams is our very own Milwaukee Brewers. Right now, however, we've heard no indications that there will be major changes to fans' streaming options for the Crew. For those who are living in the area and considered to be “in-market” spectators with cable, you’ll watch the broadcast through Bally Sports Wisconsin. For those outside of the area and considered to be “out-of-market,” an all-teams MLB.TV subscription is still your best bet. As for Amazon, it’s still unclear as to how exactly they plan to utilize their newly acquired digital streaming rights. The current theory is that, similar to the existing in-market Bally Sports+ package, fans will be able to subscribe to an additional service to stream games from the five teams whose rights are still owned by Diamond Sports Group (Tigers, Royals, Marlins, Rays, Brewers). It’s yet to be seen whether an additional cost will be incurred, but given how things are these days, don’t be surprised if a nearly $2-trillion company tries to nickel and dime you. If you belong to the not-insignificant number of fans who only keep cable to see the Brewers, though, this could end up a money saver, depending on how things shake out. Moving forward, it seems almost certain that RSNs will fade away, like cassette tapes and videos longer than two minutes. On the bright side, it’s possible that the expiration and non-renewal of exclusive cable rights will finally bring about the fall of the dreaded blackouts, be that in the form of an Amazon-based streaming platform or something managed by the league itself. With consumers continuing to move toward consolidated streaming platforms and away from cable, fans in Iowa may finally be able to enjoy the exploits of native son Colin Rea without donning the VPN invisibility cloak. View full article