Some aged well, others…not so much
Bold Predictions
Paul Dietrich: DL Hall is a serious NL Rookie of the Year candidate
Oops. Hall was only briefly healthy in 2024, and even more briefly effective. He showed flashes toward the end of the season, but it was not an especially encouraging season for one of the big prizes in the Corbin Burnes trade. He could still make good in 2025, but we’ll see.
Harrison Freuck: Tyler Black finishes the season as a left-handed option at first base
Black didn’t capitalize on his strong 2023 season (.284/.417/.513 with 18 homers, 73 RBIs, 105 runs, and 55 steals across 123 games between Double-A and Triple-A), and so he didn’t get much of an opportunity with the major league squad (18 games, .204/.316/.245 with 10 hits, seven walks, two RBIs, four runs, and three steals). Plus, Jake Bauers made it through the entire 2024 season as Milwaukee’s primary left-handed option at first. Hopefully I was just a year early.
Matt Gerrity: Sal Frelick hits .300
Well, Frelick only hit .259, so this prediction fell short by a fair margin. But there were several interesting developments in Frelick’s approach this year. He had a good strikeout rate in his 2023 stint, and he lowered that even more to 14.9% in 2024. He didn’t walk as much, but for someone as speedy as Frelick, I don’t think it’s a bad thing that he might be more reliant on getting balls in play next year.
Jason Paczkowski: DL Hall solidifies himself as the No. 2 starter in the rotation
This didn’t really pan out for DL Hall in 2024. He spent a good part of the season on the IL, and when he returned he spent time in the minors. Meanwhile, Tobias Myers emerged from the minors to take this spot in the Brewers rotation. Hall still showed some promise this season. A seven-inning scoreless start to end August impressed many, and he had a strong showing in September. That sets him up for another opportunity in the rotation in 2025.
Storylines to Watch
Paul Dietrich: How does the rotation hold up?
It turns out this was, indeed, a big storyline throughout the season and the answer was: not very well! The Brewers, to their credit, did a nice job of patching things together, squeezing every ounce of juice out of guys like Colin Rea and trade pickups Frankie Montas and Aaron Civale. So, on one hand, the rotation did not hold up at all, as they worked through what felt like 1,200 different starting pitchers. But on the other hand, they miraculously found a way to make it work.
Harrison Freuck: Which Willy Adames shows up in 2024?
The answer to this: the 2021/2022 Adames. After compiling 7.9 bWAR across 238 games between 2021/2022, Adames declined significantly with only 3.0 WAR and a .217/.310/.407 line (94 OPS+) across 149 games in 2023. While his 3.1 WAR in 2024 wasn’t much better, he looked closer to his 2022 form at the plate, hitting .251/.331/.462 (118 OPS+) with a career-high 33 homers and 112 RBIs, also stealing a career-high 21 bags. Talk about a good “walk” season.
Matt Gerrity: What happens at shortstop?
With Willy Adames sticking around as the Brewers showed they were contenders, there was no dramatic trade deadline to worry about. Adames had his best season since 2021 with a 119 wRC+, so this storyline might just carry over into this offseason. I expect Ortiz to slide over for shortstop. That might leave the Brewers without some key power in the lineup, but I can’t wait to see what Ortiz does defensively if that’s the case.
Jason Paczkowski: Can the Brewers find a full-time player for third base?
The Brewers did end up finding their third baseman. Joey Ortiz got the starting job at the beginning of the season and held it throughout the season. He started 124 of the Brewers’ 162 games at third. The first two months of the season were strong as he posted a .288/.388/.504 batting line. He cooled off from there but still held the position with good defense. However, going into 2025, the Brewers are back to square one here. With Ortiz predicted to slide over to shortstop, the Brewers will be looking for a potential third baseman this offseason.
Team MVP
Paul Dietrich: Freddy Peralta
For me, this was sort of a “wishful” pick—I felt that the Brewers’ best chance of having a big year were if Peralta was as good as he’d been in 2021. It didn’t really work out that way—Freddy was fine, but he was very inconsistent and not the ace that I hoped he would be.
Harrison Freuck: Freddy Peralta
As Paul said above, Peralta wasn’t very consistent in 2024. Even so, he was one of the anchors of the rotation, making a career-high 32 starts and pitching to a 3.68 ERA and 4.16 WHIP with 200 strikeouts for the second straight season. While he certainly wasn’t the team MVP, he was still a cornerstone in an oft-injured rotation.
Matt Gerrity: Christian Yelich
Yelich played his final game on July 23. Up until that point, he was the team’s best hitter with a 153 wRC+. I think that means I get some credit, right? He had 11 home runs and 21 stolen bases at that point, still walked over 12% of the time, and had a .315 batting average. If Yelich returns to health after his back surgery with no problems, I don’t think it’s a crazy stretch to say he could be in this discussion again.
Jason Paczkowski: William Contreras
By WAR (both on FanGraphs and Baseball Reference), Contreras led the team. He had a 5.4 fWAR and 4.9 bWAR. He led the team in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage among qualified players (Yelich did finish higher when counting all players). Statistically, Contreras was the best player on the team this season.
Most Improved Player
Paul Dietrich: Sal Frelick
I really thought Frelick was going to take a step forward offensively. There’s a part of me that’s kind of always going to believe that Frelick will take a step forward offensively, even if he’s 47 years old and only playing beer-league softball somewhere in Massachusetts. It could still happen! Frelick did end up winning a Gold Glove, but his offense was bad enough that I would say this was a miss.
Harrison Freuck: Sal Frelick
Frelick wasn’t the most improved player by any stretch, but he still provided solid defense as he won a Gold Glove, and he cut down his strikeout rate (as mentioned by Matt earlier). I’d say this was a miss but not an awful one.
Matt Gerrity: Brice Turang
For much of the season, I was feeling pretty good about this one. In 2023, Turang hit .218. He was off to an incredible start this year, even pushing for an All-Star bid. On July 5, Turang was hitting .290 with 28 stolen bases, an improved strikeout rate, and was putting together a Gold Glove resume. His performance at the plate fell dramatically, down to a .209 batting average the rest of the way. I love Turang’s style, though, and I don’t think he’ll be a low-.200s hitter next year.
Jason Paczkowski: Garrett Mitchell
A day after the original predictions came out, Mitchell went on the IL with a fractured finger and missed three months. That may have stopped him from being the most improved player, but he still made a good run at it after returning. In just 69 games from July forward, he posted a 2.0 bWAR. With a full season of playing time, he may have had a 4-plus WAR season. Mitchell finally gave us a good look at what kind of player he is, now he just needs to stay healthy and do it for a full season.
Newcomer of the Year
Paul Dietrich: Rhys Hoskins
This was sort of a reasonable choice at the beginning of the year, but despite 26 homers, Hoskins was a disappointment in 2024. I talked a bunch about Chourio, I should have just made the bold choice, I guess!
Harrison Freuck: Jackson Chourio
This was easily my best pick. As everyone has heard a million times by now, Chourio had a slow start but picked it up as the season went on. The result was a solid .275/.327/.464 line (117 OPS+) with 21 homers, 79 RBIs, 80 runs, and 22 steals across 148 games. He also put his name into contention for NL Rookie of the Year and he’s a finalist for the Silver Slugger Award in the outfield.
Matt Gerrity: DL Hall
DL Hall’s 5.02 ERA looks ugly on face value, but I’m still hopeful about his potential moving forward. As for this year, though, it was definitely an underwhelming performance. He walked too many batters, gave up too many home runs, and didn’t have incredible strikeout numbers. Hall hasn’t had a huge sample in the majors, but his Stuff+ numbers show there’s still some adjustments to be made if he’s going to become a solid starter. His fastball rated at 72 in Stuff+, which doesn’t seem tenable in a starter’s role.
Jason Paczkowski: Jackson Chourio
It was hard to beat Chourio as Newcomer of the Year this season. It may have taken him two months to get going, but once he did, he was hard to stop. He finished the season with the third-best WAR on the team and has set himself up to be a superstar for years.