Alexis Farinacci

Image courtesy of © William Purnell-Imagn Images Garrett Mitchell is off to one of the hottest starts in baseball and has made a huge impact in the Brewers’ lineup so far this season. The lefty batter is currently hitting .333/.419/.556, with a .975 OPS. He has three doubles, one home run, and has walked four times. He has driven in 13 RBIs, has four runs scored, and three stolen bases to add to his early-season success. His 13 RBIs are tied for the most in the major leagues. Over the course of the first nine games of the year, he has at least one more hit in five of those nine games, with four multi-hit games, and has driven in two or more RBIs in four of the first nine as well. On April 4, Mitchell drove in five RBIs on two hits, including an RBI double and a three-run home run that helped lead the Brewers to a 5-2 win over the Kansas City Royals. Mitchell came up clutch again on Monday during the Brewers’ matchup against the Red Sox. With the game tied 5-5 in the top of the 8th, Mitchell hit a tiebreaking two-RBI single that gave Milwaukee a 7-5 lead, and the Brewers then went on to defeat Boston that night 8-6. Beyond the surface of his batting line, Mitchell has a .615 BABIP so far this season and a 178 wRC+. Of the balls he’s putting in play, he’s averaging an exit velocity of 98.4mph, which ranks in the top one percent of Major League Baseball, a max exit velocity of 112.6, ranking in the top four percent of the league, and a 61.5 percent HardHit percentage, ranking in the top four percent of the league. Much of Mitchell’s success comes from pitchers throwing him breaking balls. Mitchell has three hits off of breaking balls, including a curveball thrown to him when he hit that three-run home run against Kansas City. Coming into Monday night’s game, he was 4-for-13 against the fastball, but had a .429 average (3-for-7), with a 1.000 slugging off of breaking balls thrown to him, including an RBI double and his three-run home run. So far in 2026, pitchers have thrown Mitchell 37 fastballs, 25 changeups, 16 sinkers, 13 curveballs, 12 sliders, 11 cutters, and seven sweepers, making it 37 fastballs versus 73 breaking balls. So long as pitchers continue to throw him the breaking ball, he is likely to see continued success due to his ability to put the bat on the ball with the off-speed pitches. Mitchell is a player many overlooked coming into 2026, as he hasn’t had that much success in his first four seasons with Milwaukee, with injuries derailing most of his career since 2022. He has appeared in just 141 games at the major league Level (28 games in 2022, 19 in 2023, 69 in 2024, and 25 games in 2025). Last season, he spent a significant amount of time on the 60-day injured list with an oblique strain. In the 25 games he appeared in last season, he batted just .206/.286/.294, with a .580 OPS. Looking back even more to 2024, Mitchell had just 12 doubles, eight home runs, 21 RBIs, and 33 runs scored. Those are his best career numbers, and so far in 2026, he’s on pace to smash those totals. But the question many are asking now, is this sustainable? The 27-year-old from Milwaukee has yet to make it through a full season healthy. So the first step to Mitchell maintaining success is to stay in the lineup and on the field. Next, his swing discipline at the plate and his ability to make contact. Mitchell has been known as a player susceptible to chasing fastballs, thus the surprise that pitchers continue to throw him breaking balls at the plate. However, he has shown that this year is different. He is putting the ball in play more, hitting it with a harder exit velocity, and putting the barrel on the ball more as well. It is evident that Mitchell worked hard during the offseason. With a strong ability to put the ball in play this year and to come up clutch when it counts, if he stays healthy and that discipline and hard-hitting percentage continue, this could be the year that Mitchell breaks out, and many think it will be. View full article