Brewers 2025 Discussion - Frelick Activated, Black Sent Down

[ReasonablySober]

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Good article offering up explanations as to why young callups are struggling more now than they have in the past.

[ReasonablySober]

I wonder if we're going to see a Frelick move soon. His batted ball data is straight up alarming. He's basically gone the entire season without hitting the ball hard, and now his defense is bad too.

[ReasonablySober]

Gasser's getting the call up. Cool.

[Matches Malone]

[Thunder Muscle]

Is Gasser going to start or be in the bullpen?

[ReasonablySober]

Is Gasser going to start or be in the bullpen?

I think he's starting the game tomorrow.

[ReasonablySober]

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[Matches Malone]

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[Matches Malone]

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[MVP2110]

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[ReasonablySober]

Takeaways from new Statcast MLB bat-tracking data

The anti-Stanton
On the other end of the spectrum is San Diego Padres craftsman Luis Arraez, who can add a new title to his two batting crowns: the slowest bat in baseball. Arráez's bat speed of 62.3 mph lags more than 2 mph behind the second-most languid, Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan, and the two are perhaps the best examples of what players without elite bat speed can do to continue thriving in the big leagues.

Arráez and Kwan are part of the cohort of controlled, short swings that get squared up with a phenomenal amount of regularity. Arráez's swing is just 5.9 feet and Kwan's 6.4. In the group of sub-68-mph bat speed and sub-6.4-foot swing length are Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang (128 OPS+), Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo (107) and Toronto Blue Jays DH Justin Turner (111), all of whom are productive offensive players.

One might suggest it's in spite of their swings, but perhaps it's better to start treating it like it's because of them. Arráez leads MLB by squaring up the ball on 43.9% of his swings. To determine whether a pitch has been squared up, the system takes two variables -- bat speed and pitch speed -- and determines the maximum exit velocity. Then it takes the actual EV on a batted ball and compares it to the peak. If it's at least 80% of the top-end number, it is deemed to be squared up, because only balls that hit the bat's sweet spot can produce 80%-plus velocities.

When hitters square up a ball, they bat .372 and slug .659. When they don't, they hit .127 and slug .144. In other words, even if neither possesses much power, appreciate Arráez, Kwan and others for what they are: masters of the art of hitting.

The best hitter in baseball nobody knows
He's got more blasts than Soto and Ohtani.

Only four players have squared up more balls than him, and each is a multi-time All-Star.

He doesn't even swing, on average, as hard as his brother. But that doesn't matter, because William Contreras -- the Brewers' catcher, younger sibling of St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras -- does plenty of damage with a 74-mph effort. Not only is the 26-year-old Contreras atop the list of blasts, it's not particularly close: His 57 are ahead of Soto's 49 and Ohtani's 46, and his big league-best blast rate of 34.8% is 2½ times the major league average of 13.7%.

The reason for Contreras' success is clear: He swings hard, hits the ball very hard and doesn't strike out much (sub-20% punchout rate on the season). It's an exceptional combination of skills, and to have maintained this offensive output playing every Brewers game, not to mention 33 of 40 at catcher, is MVP-caliber work.

Hey ESPN finally figured out who William Contreras is.

[coolhandluke121]

Takeaways from new Statcast MLB bat-tracking data

The anti-Stanton
On the other end of the spectrum is San Diego Padres craftsman Luis Arraez, who can add a new title to his two batting crowns: the slowest bat in baseball. Arráez's bat speed of 62.3 mph lags more than 2 mph behind the second-most languid, Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan, and the two are perhaps the best examples of what players without elite bat speed can do to continue thriving in the big leagues.

Arráez and Kwan are part of the cohort of controlled, short swings that get squared up with a phenomenal amount of regularity. Arráez's swing is just 5.9 feet and Kwan's 6.4. In the group of sub-68-mph bat speed and sub-6.4-foot swing length are Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang (128 OPS+), Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo (107) and Toronto Blue Jays DH Justin Turner (111), all of whom are productive offensive players.

One might suggest it's in spite of their swings, but perhaps it's better to start treating it like it's because of them. Arráez leads MLB by squaring up the ball on 43.9% of his swings. To determine whether a pitch has been squared up, the system takes two variables -- bat speed and pitch speed -- and determines the maximum exit velocity. Then it takes the actual EV on a batted ball and compares it to the peak. If it's at least 80% of the top-end number, it is deemed to be squared up, because only balls that hit the bat's sweet spot can produce 80%-plus velocities.

When hitters square up a ball, they bat .372 and slug .659. When they don't, they hit .127 and slug .144. In other words, even if neither possesses much power, appreciate Arráez, Kwan and others for what they are: masters of the art of hitting.

The best hitter in baseball nobody knows
He's got more blasts than Soto and Ohtani.

Only four players have squared up more balls than him, and each is a multi-time All-Star.

He doesn't even swing, on average, as hard as his brother. But that doesn't matter, because William Contreras -- the Brewers' catcher, younger sibling of St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras -- does plenty of damage with a 74-mph effort. Not only is the 26-year-old Contreras atop the list of blasts, it's not particularly close: His 57 are ahead of Soto's 49 and Ohtani's 46, and his big league-best blast rate of 34.8% is 2½ times the major league average of 13.7%.

The reason for Contreras' success is clear: He swings hard, hits the ball very hard and doesn't strike out much (sub-20% punchout rate on the season). It's an exceptional combination of skills, and to have maintained this offensive output playing every Brewers game, not to mention 33 of 40 at catcher, is MVP-caliber work.

Hey ESPN finally figured out who William Contreras is.

This was really fun to read and it's really fun when you find data like this that jives with the eye test. I was just thinking that Contreras seems to be one of the best runs of solid contact that I've seen in a decade or more, and you just expect a deep line drive at least twice a game at this point.

I would absolutely love it if these short, slow swings become a thing again as the natural antidote to the recent advances in swing-and-miss pitching. Infield defense would also have to improve as a consequence, and pitchers would probably have to adapt eventually as well. Baseball is still my first love in sports, and it would be sweet if it became more like the game I fell in love with in the 80's again.

[Thunder Muscle]

Crazy to think we’re 25% into the season. Couldn’t ask for much better of a start at 24-16 and first place. Always fun to be in the mix. What are your pleasant surprises/positives so far? Disappointments?

Turang has definitely been my biggest surprise. He has been fantastic. Yelich, when healthy, has been really good again. The pitching has been solid enough too. Will it last? I don’t know, but the starters have kept the games close and the bullpen has been very good again. Rea, Ross, Wilson have done what they needed to do overall so far, especially Ross on the road. His home numbers are rough.

Disappointments so far for me has been Frelick. Felt like he was going to be a high BA/higher OPS guy but its been a struggle so far. Chourio is battling, but kind of expected that and he has at least shown flashes at the plate. Pitching wise I think DL Hall, Ashby, and Uribe been my disappointments. Hall we’ll see what happens post IL stint. Ashby I think may not ever contribute here. He got that contract so assume gets another shot but not much positive. Uribe hopefully can regain stuff in AAA.

[coolhandluke121]

You'd think maybe after seeing Hader bomb with the Padres and seeing how good that trade turned out for the Brewers, people would be more open-minded about an Adames trade. But I know that's probably asking way too much.

I personally would be adamant about wanting to trade him. I don't really trust his consistency with his wild swings. That recent time that he swung so hard that the bat came out on his backswing and almost came all the way around his body again, when the Brewers just needs decent contact with the bases loaded and 1 out, was kind of embarrassing. He reminds me a little of Carlos Gomez, and I don't expect him to age much better than Gomez did. If he weren't playing quite this well, then you obviously just wait for the comp pick, but at this point he's playing well enough to justify a return worth quite a bit more IMO.

ETA: Also, Turang, Ortiz, and Monasterio can play SS. Miller and Dunn can play 2B. They wouldn't be completely bereft of options in the middle infield.

[jakecronus8]

They're in a good spot in that they have the flexibility to trade Adames but in a year where they are in it so they don't necessarily have to.

I'd be open to it but only if they go the quality over quantity route (i.e. a top 20 prospect coming back)

[ReasonablySober]

There's no need to make a move this season, but things stand to get more complicated next year if Mike Boeve keeps getting on base and Brock Wilken returns to form.

[Ryan5UW]

As RS mentioned before, they'd take a huge PR hit trading Willy. He's also a huge part of the team chemistry, moving him would probably mess them up worse than the Hader trade did. Losing him for nothing more than a comp pick would be rough, but that's the position they put themselves in with him.

[gbmb34]

They have like $75 million in commitments for next year and a healthy paysheet with a lot of cheap contributors both in the bigs and on the horizon. And only Yelich as any type of longterm anchor.

Just pay Adames

[ReasonablySober]

They have like $75 million in commitments for next year and a healthy paysheet with a lot of cheap contributors both in the bigs and on the horizon. And only Yelich as any type of longterm anchor.

Just pay Adames

Long term deals given out after a player's sixth MLB season almost never work out. The Brewers already got his prime years, and have at least two shortstops ready to take his place.

Paying Willy would be extremely stupid. Let some other team do it.

[Ryan5UW]

If they’re going to pay a Will, make it Contreras.