Milwaukee Brewers: Christian Yelich Finding His Groove

It is no secret that it has been a chaotic, strange, and overall tough season thus far for Milwaukee Brewers star Christian Yelich. The former NL MVP has dealt with a variety of issues, including back problems, Covid-19, and still attempting to find a rhythm at the plate after breaking his knee cap in 2019.

All of these factors have caused Yelich to have a disappointing season going into mid-August. After a 1-4 performance at the plate at Wrigley Field on August 11th, Yelich was slashing .226/.372/.350 for an OPS of .723.

However, on August 12th, Yelich went 2-6 in the series finale against the Cubs. This might have sparked something in Yelich, as he has been red hot since then.

Since that game on August 12th, Yelich has hit safely in every game he has played except for a pinch hit appearance against the Washington Nationals.

During that span, in 41 at-bats, Yelich is hitting .366/.381/.585, good for an OPS of .966. The most encouraging sign from Yelich is that in the 15 hits he has had over this stretch, five of them have been for extra bases, including two home runs.

The entire year Yelich’s power has been sapped. He has a career low in slugging percentage and is hitting the second fewest amount of line drives in his career. What’s been a very encouraging sign is that we’ve seen Yelich getting more elevation on his batted balls during this two week stretch rather than pounding them into the ground. He has been making more solid contact and has been driving the ball to the outfield more.

The Milwaukee Brewers are already a dangerous team going into the final stretch of the season. Having a MVP caliber player return to form will only make other teams want to play the Brewers less.

Yes, a two week span is a small sample size, but as Yelich said after Saturday’s win, it “feels good to feel good.”