Milwaukee Brewers get 1B Help in Trade for Rowdy Tellez

Well, David Stearns is at it again. As good as this Milwaukee Brewers team has been this season, especially over the last month, they’ve struggled to find consistent production at first base.

Keston Hiura has been sent to Triple-A Nashville twice, and although he had a hot bat upon his most recent return, he has cooled off and is still striking out at a high rate. Daniel Vogelbach was heating up but has been on the IL with a hamstring injury. And Milwaukee is also without Travis Shaw, who can double as a first baseman when needed, as he too is on the injured list.

So in an attempt to bolster that position and add some needed depth, the Milwaukee Brewers traded for now-former Toronto Blue Jay, Rowdy Tellez.

Tellez was selected by the Blue Jays in the 30th round of the 2013 MLB Draft and made his big league debut in 2018, where he would appear in 23 games, tallying a .314 average with a .943 OPS, including four home runs and nine doubles.

His first, and only, full season came the following year in 2019 when Tellez slashed .227/.293/.449 totaling a .772 OPS over 111 games and 409 plate appearances. He would hit 21 home runs that season along with 19 doubles and post an OPS+ of 95–just below league average. During the shortened 2020 season, Tellez averaged .283 at the plate with a .886 OPS and an impressive OPS+ of 140.

This season, however, hasn’t gone as swimmingly for the first baseman. In his 151 plate appearances that have spanned 50 games, Tellez is batting .209 with a .610 OPS. In fact, recently, he was in Triple-A Buffalo, where he found success, slashing .298/.400/.638. With Vlad Guerrero Jr. at first base for Toronto, there just wasn’t much playing time for Tellez to be had.

Over the last two seasons, in particular, Tellez has been okay at drawing walks, getting a free pass on 6.0 percent of his at-bats in 2021 and 8.7 percent in 2020. He also doesn’t strike out a ton either, with a K-rate of 15.7 percent last season and a still solid 21.9 percent this year, according to Fangraphs. It’s also worth noting that Tellez’ BAbip is 31 points lower this season than his career average, which could be a factor in his struggles.

Defensively, by Baseball Savant’s Outs Above Average metric, Tellez has been a below-average defender at first base over his career. DRS (Defensive Runs Saved) has been a little kinder to Tellez, but he has also been a below-average defender by that metric as well. But with Hiura and Vogelbach as the primary first basemen this season for the Brewers, defensive prowess at first base hasn’t exactly been a priority.

Will Sammon of The Athletic would mention that Tellez is expected to join the team in New York on Wednesday. Perhaps we could see the left-handed Tellez and the right-handed Hiura in a platoon over at first base for the time being, although each player has reverse splits, with Hiura’s being quite stark with a .600 OPS against lefties and .839 OPS against righties.

To acquire Tellez, the Milwaukee Brewers had to give up Trevor Richards, who they acquired not too long ago in the Willy Adames trade with Tampa Bay. In 15 appearances out of the bullpen with Milwaukee, Richards covered 19.2 innings while posting a 3.20 ERA and a 1,220 WHIP.

The Brewers would also add pitcher Bowden Francis to the deal. Francis spent the 2021 season in Triple-A Nashville, making seven starts and logging a 3.49 ERA and a 0.983 WHIP in 38.2 innings of work.

With the emergence of Jake Cousins and Miguel Sanchez out of the bullpen, the Milwaukee Brewers clearly felt comfortable moving on from Richards. However, with some help at first base, I suspect that Milwaukee isn’t done making trades just yet, as they’ll look to add to their bullpen depth before the trade deadline at the end of the month.