Milwaukee Brewers Jace Peterson Providing Surprising Boost to Offense
By Paul Bretl
Regardless of the sport, if a team is going to be successful, then are going to be some unexpected contributions along the way. This season for the first-place Milwaukee Brewers, that player would be Jace Peterson, who has provided this offense with a welcomed and surprising boost, especially as of late.
Peterson made his big league debut back in 2014 and spent time with four different teams before signing a minor league deal with the Brewers prior to the 2020 season. From 2014 to 2019, Peterson had a career slash line of .228/.314/.330, totaling a .644 OPS and an OPS+ of 77.
During the shortened 2020 season with Milwaukee, Peterson improved upon those numbers even though his batting average sat at only .200. He posted a .749 OPS and an above-average OPS+ of 104. Where Peterson really shined was at finding his way on base, drawing 15 walks in 61 plate appearances with an impressive walk rate of 24.6 percent and an OBP of .393.
This season with the Brewers battling various injuries for much of the year and Peterson’s ability to play first, second, and third base, along with the corner outfield positions, Milwaukee has had to rely on the former first-round pick, and he has not disappointed. In fact, he’s been pretty impressive.
In his 113 plate appearances which have spanned 37 games, Peterson is slashing .258/.381/.441 with a .821 OPS and a well above league average OPS+ of 124. You’ll notice that Peterson is still showing tremendous patience at the plate and getting on base at a high clip with a still excellent walk rate of almost 17 percent. But he’s also raised his average significantly and has also found some power, with four home runs, six doubles, and a triple this season.
"“That’s the place you want any player to start, for me,” said manager Craig Counsell via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Where Jace is at now, you take that great foundation of balls and strikes and then the experience of some failure hitting, some success hitting and just learning about yourself and how to be just a little bit better.“I think that’s what we’re seeing right now. We saw it last year. He didn’t hit for a high average, but he was on base a ton. When you get that on-base percentage above .330 to the .350s-.360s range, that’s getting on base at a really good clip.“You’re going to score runs and impact games a lot.”"
More recently, over Peterson’s last 17 games, he is batting .390 with an impressive 1.124 OPS. He’s drawn nine walks during that span, and collected five of his six doubles along with his triple, and two of his four home runs during this stretch as well.
Defensively, Peterson has provided a boost there as well, displaying that versatility of his by covering multiple positions. So far this season, Peterson has logged 164.1 innings at second, 2.0 innings at third, 30.1 at first, 15.0 in left field, and 18.0 in right. Overall, he has been an average defender by Baseball Savant’s Outs Above Average metric–impressive considering the multiple positions he’s been asked to play. Meanwhile, he ranks similarly according to Defensive Runs Saved.
It would be foolish to assume that Peterson is going to continue on his current pace over the course of a season, but he’s become a key contributor to this Milwaukee Brewers team both offensively, defensively, as well as in the locker room.
"“When he steps in the batter’s box, he’s going to give you a good at-bat,” said pitcher Brandon Woodruff via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A lot of times he’s going to walk, so he’s on base a ton, it seems like, and he just plays solid defense wherever he’s at. I don’t know how much stock or value you want to put into it, but as a teammate, the guy is an amazing teammate. He picks everybody else up, never seems to get sped up.“I can go on and on. I’m glad you asked that, because I think he’s a really dang good baseball player and I know people don’t talk about him, but those are the types of players you need on your team.”"