
Breaking down Turang’s jump in offensive production to start the year
Brewers second baseman Brice Turang has been on fire to start the season.
The reigning Platinum Glove Award winner has always been valuable to the Brewers, mainly due to his impressive defense. Turang, through his first couple of seasons with the Brewers, was at best an average hitter. His .245 career average is right around last year’s league average (.243), while his career .338 slugging percentage is a far cry from average (which usually hovers around .400).
Most assumed that’s who Turang would always be — a light hitting middle infielder who would earn his spot in the lineup through his stellar defense. This season, though? Turang is currently slashing .333/.365/.478 through 17 games, a marked improvement from last year’s .254/.316/.349 line. He’s recorded a hit in 16 of the Brewers’ 17 games and already has three home runs — on pace to shatter his career-high of seven.
Seventeen games is far from a large sample size, I know. I do think, however, that it’s a large enough sample size to start asking whether Turang’s improvement is sustainable. Out of curiosity, and because I love Turang’s game, I decided to do the research myself.
The Case for Brice Turang, future All-Star
Arguing that Turang’s improvement is sustainable is borderline impossible without mentioning his exit velocity and bat speed. Turang’s average exit velocity jumped from 87.0 to 94.4, while his bat speed rose from 66.2 to 69.3. These stats are key in quantifying how hard a given player hits the ball. According to Statcast tracking data, every mile per hour increase in bat speed correlates to an extra six more feet of distance. Is it a surprise, then, that Turang has already hit three 400-plus foot home runs so far this season?
Not only is Turang swinging the bat faster, but he’s hitting the ball harder. His 94.4-mph average exit velocity is in the 90th percentile leaguewide. That’s an insane stat for somebody sporting a career slugging percentage of .338. As a rookie, Turang was ranked in the bottom 2% of Major League Baseball in exit velocity. This season, he ranks in the top 10%.
So, what’s to suggest that he can keep hitting the ball as hard as he’s been? If you’ve watched Brewers games this season, you might have noticed Turang has tweaked his stance. Watch this swing, from July of last year:
Coming up clutch with two outs@BRiCEcTuRANG pic.twitter.com/v7V3Aum2dN
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 24, 2024
Now, watch Turang hit a 444-foot home run against the Rockies:
HE HIT THIS 444 FEET TO KEEP THE HIT STREAK ALIVE@BRiCEcTuRANG https://t.co/qIA51Wmqc3 pic.twitter.com/kspxpTO0aE
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) April 9, 2025
Turang has tweaked his swing to generate more power. The most obvious change is that Turang is starting with more of his weight on his back foot in order to transfer his weight more quickly. He’s added a prominent step and is getting his front foot down significantly earlier.
Why would this matter? Many hitters tend to want to pull the ball and need to work on going with the ball — that is, hitting balls on the outside third of the plate to the opposite field. Turang was the exact opposite. He pulled the ball less than anybody else in the majors last year at just 26.4% of the time. Turang would even hit balls on the inside third of the plate to the opposite field. Now that he’s getting his foot down early, he’s turning on inside pitches and driving them. Starting his swing earlier means he’s also getting his hips around earlier — something that has helped him make harder contact.
So far, this has paid off. Apart from his three home runs, Turang also has the highest line-drive rate of his career, at 27.5%, and an OPS+ of 141. He’s also changed his approach, walking in just 4.2% of his at-bats (as opposed to 8.1% last year and 8.5% as a rookie). Turang’s K% is at a career-high (22.5%, 17% last year), indicative of a more aggressive approach. When he’s at the plate, he’s ready to swing and swing hard. Strikeouts aren’t good, but I’d be okay with him striking out more often if he keeps hitting the ball as hard as he’s been.
With that being said, there are also signs that Turang may come back to earth.
The number one sign is his .396 BABIP, or batting average on balls in play. This means that Turang is hitting .396 when he hits the ball in fair territory. Last year, Turang’s BABIP was .300, which is usually right around league average. This year, he’s getting luckier than average when he makes contact. His stats may come back to earth a bit when his BABIP does. At the same time, he is also making harder (better) contact. It wouldn’t be all that surprising for his BABIP to rise a little, just not nearly 100 points.
Speaking of making harder contact, Turang is also currently sporting a 49% hard-hit rate (MLB average: 39%). This means that when Turang’s made contact this season, he’s hit the ball at least 95 mph 39% of the time. For comparison, his career average is 29.9%. Same thing with his home run percentage, which has skyrocketed from 1.1% to 4.2%. An almost 400% increase (probably) isn’t sustainable.
The most probable outcome, to me, appears to be somewhere in the middle. I think that Turang’s improvement is for real, and that some of the improvements (harder hit balls, faster swing, increased power) are here to stay. He’s also on pace for 30 home runs, which I can tell you right now probably isn’t going to happen.
Just like with his BABIP, I think his hard hit and home run percentages will come back down to earth a little but will still remain higher than they’ve been in seasons past. Maybe a 400% increase in home runs isn’t likely, but a 200% increase would be far from unprecedented — especially with a retooled swing and approach and a little bit of luck. Turang averaged 6.5 home runs a season the past two years, so that would put him at 13 home runs. Not insane numbers, but a Turang who hits 12-15 home runs is a significantly improved player.
Keep in mind that we’re talking about a guy who posted 4.7 WAR last season, too. Turang won the Platinum Glove last year as the best defensive player in baseball, and he still contributed 2.4 oWAR (offensive WAR). He hit .254 last year and is still only 25 years old. Turang’s only in his third year in the bigs, and improved his batting average drastically — from .218 to .254 — last year. Who’s to say that he couldn’t improve another 20ish points? A Turang who’s hitting .275 with 8ish home runs and 20 stolen bases by mid-July might be an All-Star if you factor in his defense.
In summary, yes, I think Turang’s bat is legit. No, he won’t hit .333 for the rest of the season, nor will he finish second on the team in home runs. I still feel really, really good about Turang. He’s a talented, young player who has improved every year and patched the holes in his game. Turang has made improvements in his swing and his approach to address holes in his game, which is exactly what successful hitters do. I’m willing to bet that Turang’s bat didn’t peak his second year in the big leagues, and that his hard work will pay off.
BREWERS WALK IT OFF ON A BUNT IN THE 11TH
(via @Brewers)pic.twitter.com/tcVbtL0RTQ
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) April 2, 2025
Brice Turang – Milwaukee Brewers (1) pic.twitter.com/cm5IjnLKEP
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) March 29, 2025