Milwaukee Brewers Continue to Struggle at the Plate

Through the first eight games of the regular season, the Milwaukee Brewers’ bats have struggled to get going.

Although it seems like years ago at this point, the Milwaukee Brewers’ offseason was one that left many feeling underwhelmed and unsatisfied with the moves that were made. After making the postseason for the second straight season – a feat that has only happened one other time in franchise history – instead of making a big free-agent addition or two, GM David Stearns went in the other direction.

Offensively, Yasmani Grandal and Mike Moustakas would sign elsewhere in free agency, and the Brewers replaced them with several players who have had productive big league seasons, but they’ve also really struggled as well.

Whereas with Grandal and Moose, you pretty much know what to expect from them at the plate, the likes of Eric Sogard, Jedd Gyorko, Justin Smoak, and Logan Morrison come with a much higher variance.

This, of course, left many wondering whether or not this Milwaukee Brewers’ offense had enough juice to make a playoff run in 2020. While it is still early and no conclusions should be made at this point, through eight games, the Brewer bats are struggling to get going.

According to MLB.com, prior to Milwaukee’s Tuesday night game against the Chicago White Sox, their .660 team OPS ranked 25th in all of baseball, and their .212 batting average ranked 24th. Meanwhile, the 3.75 runs per game they are scoring is ranked 22nd, and nearly a full run lower than their 2019 average. Although, as I mentioned, keep in mind that this has been a very small sample size so far.

Even former MVP Christian Yelich isn’t immune to these struggles as he’s posted a slash line of .097/.152/.226. While Omar Narvaez, who has a career average and OPS of .273 and .769, respectively, is batting just .077 with a .522 OPS.

Losing Lorenzo Cain doesn’t help things either as he was off to an excellent start before opting out.

Of Milwaukee’s new additions, Avisail Garcia is the only one finding regular success at the plate with a .300 average and .890 OPS. Unfortunately, Smoak, Morrison, Sogard, Narvaez, and Brock Holt are all below the Mendoza Line, with Gyorko slashing .222/.300/.333, but only over 10 plate appearances.

Now some good news is that we’ve seen some unexpected performances at the start of the season from Orlando Arcia and the red-hot Ben Gamel. However, as the Brewers sit at 3-5, it obviously hasn’t been enough to propel this offense in the right direction.

While it can be frustrating watching the Brewers’ inability to push runs across the plate, it’s important to keep in mind that they are only eight games into the season, and yes, I know it is shortened, but there is still a ways to go.

On top of that, it’s been a very unusual year, and the players could still be adjusting to the new protocols, as well as a lack of fans in the stands. Not to mention that before the White Sox series, the Brewers hadn’t played in four days due to several members of the St. Louis Cardinals testing positive for the coronavirus.

Over the course of a season, teams get hot, and teams get cold. Unfortunately, the Milwaukee Brewers have just come out of the gate quite cold.