Milwaukee Brewers: 4 players that need to bounce-back

With the All-Star break now complete, if the Milwaukee Brewers hope to make another deep playoff run, they will need these four players to start playing better.

Back from their much-needed break, the Milwaukee Brewers will look to regroup after a tough month of June and get back to their winning ways for the final two and a half months of the season.

Even after a loss to San Francisco at home, they still only find themselves a game and a half out of first for the NL Central title. However, that is due more so because of the inconsistent play from the rest of the division as the Brewers sit at just 47-45.

Over the last few weeks, nothing has really gone right for Milwaukee and nothing is coming easy. For much of the season, this is a team that hasn’t really been able to put it all together. If the starting pitching is good, the bats or bullpen struggle and vice versa.

They also haven’t seen reliable production from key players on this team. While unfortunately there are a number of players that could qualify for this list, if the Milwaukee Brewers hope to bounce-back in the second half and even make the playoffs, they will need these four, in particular, to put it together.

Lorenzo Cain

Amongst the struggles that we have seen from various Brewers at the plate this season, Lorenzo Cain has flown a bit under the radar. On the season, Cain has a slash line of .245/.306/.349, all of which are at least 40 points or more below his career averages.

At the plate, Cain has been swinging at more pitches out of the strike zone which has resulted in fewer walks, more strikeouts and his hard hit rate is down nearly five percent from last season.

As a result, manager Craig Counsell has pulled him from the leadoff spot a few times this season. Cain has been battling a thumb injury and hopefully, the All-Star break gave it a chance to heal because if the Milwaukee Brewers are going to make a playoff push, they absolutely need Lo-Cain.

Travis Shaw

I can’t imagine there were many that would have predicted that Travis Shaw would struggle this much in 2019. Counsell has tried to give him breaks and has only allowed him to face right-handed pitching but nothing has worked.

Through 57 games, Shaw has a slash line of .164/.278/.290 with only six home runs, 13 RBIs and 69 strikeouts. You can tell that the confidence just isn’t there at the plate and it has resulted in Shaw being optioned to Triple-A San Antonio.

So far since being sent down, Shaw has looked better posting a .308 batting average along with an OPS of 1.189 in 31 plate appearances.

Shaw’s struggles offensively have really hurt this team. From 2017 to 2018 he would total 63 home runs and 187 RBIs, that is a lot of production to just disappear from your lineup.

Jhoulys Chacin

In 2018, Chacin really came out of nowhere and established himself as the Milwaukee Brewers ace, throwing nearly 200 innings and recording a 3.50 ERA. However, for much of 2019, he hasn’t been able to find that magic from a year ago.

So far, Chacin has an ERA of 5.40 with a 5.61 FIP showing that what we’ve seen from him this year is a fairly accurate representation. He’s had trouble locating his pitches and as a result, his walks per nine, home runs per nine and hard-hit rate are all up compared to what we saw in 2018.

Chacin’s last two starts have been better but the starting rotation as a whole has an ERA of 4.80 which ranks 12th overall in the NL. Outside of Brandon Woodruff and Zach Davies, the Milwaukee Brewers need to find another reliable option in the second half of the season.

Corbin Burnes

The bullpen has been perhaps the most consistent unit on this Milwaukee Brewers team but is nowhere near as dominant as last season. Burnes who was supposed to be in the starting rotation has been relegated to the bullpen due to early season struggles but still hasn’t been able to put it all together.

The long-ball has been the issue and in 46 innings, Burnes has given up 16 home runs already, along with 42 earned runs and has a WHIP of 1.7823. Coming into the season, Burnes had talked about his five-pitch mix but had primarily relied upon his fastball that hitters would sit back and wait on. While Brandon Woodruff has worked in new pitches, Burnes has stuck with his fastball and slider.

What we saw from Burnes last season has been seen in flashes but not consistently. For a bullpen that doesn’t have Corey Knebel and Jeremy Jeffress isn’t as dominant as he was in 2018, they need someone to step up.

There is a lot of talk around moves that can be made that will get the Milwaukee Brewers back on track, but at some point, the players just have to produce. And if they hope to make another deep playoff run in 2019, they’ll need these four to start putting it together.