The Brewers could improve in this important area
The Milwaukee Brewers have carried the caricature of being a defense-first, light-hitting team for a few years now. Will that change in 2025?
As the upcoming season approaches, it’s easy to see a world where the Brewers end up pushing for a top spot in the home run rankings. The team finished 16th last year. At just about league average, sometimes it felt like the Brewers could use a bit more thump to improve their lineup. Even though they lost Willy Adames, an important power source on the team, here are some reasons they could find more slugging this year.
The return of Christian Yelich is invaluable to the lineup and still could be one of the best power hitters on the team. Yelich put together an incredible season in 2024 but only played in 73 games. While he’s been known for a more line-drive-focused approach, he actually hit his highest flyball rate and highest launch angle last season since 2020. Yelich might not approach the 44 home runs he reached back in 2019, but there’s a clear path to another prolific season.
The next step in Jackson Chourio’s career will be another factor in the team’s offensive output. His stellar rookie season saw Chourio put up 21 home runs, but nearly all of that production came from June 1 onward. A full season of that level of performance will be one of the keystones of this Milwaukee offense. Chourio led the team in hard-hit rate from June to the end of the regular season with a 46.1% clip. Any further development would put him in elite company.
The Brewers do have some light hitters, but is Joey Ortiz one who could find a burst of power this year? He only hit 11 home runs in 142 games and there weren’t many silver linings in his power metrics. In the final three months, Ortiz had a paltry 2.9%-barrel rate. That’s going to need to change for him to find a power stroke. A few reasons Ortiz could turn that around are his approach and his swing speed. He ranked in the 76th percentile for swing speed last year, according to Baseball Savant. Further, he was even better in chase rate, whiff rate, and walk rate. If Ortiz combines these skills, his contact quality might take an important leap, tapping into a welcome source of home runs for the Brewers this year.
All stats courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.