Milwaukee Brewers former MVP Christian Yelich’s batting woes continue
By Todd Welter

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich looked like he was regaining his MVP form three weeks ago.
He had just hit for the cycle against the Cincinnati Reds and had a .838 OPS.
It felt like Yelich had finally shaken off the hitting struggles he had the past two seasons.
Instead, it was just a mirage as Yelich has gone into a prolonged slump.
Urías is out with his painful thumb injury but it's not considered an IL situation, Craig Counsell said.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) June 4, 2022
For Yelich, just a day. No injury issue, per CC. Yelich is hitless in his last 10 ABs with 6K and .173/.256/.210 with 2 XBH and 1 RBI in 81 ABs since his cycle on May 11. https://t.co/Nz38Gagikn
He went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the series finale against the San Diego Padres, and is now hitting .218 on the season. His slash line has declined to .313/.360/.673.
Yelich has yet to get a hit this month. Granted, we are only a few days into June but he is 0-for-9 with just two walks. Over the last 15 days, Yelich is 9-for-54 with only one extra-base hit and a run batted in with a slash line of .250/.204/.454.
Right now he has a 94 wRC+ which is seven below league average.
That is a slump, my friends.
Yet, Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell keeps penciling him third in the batting order much to everyone’s dismay.
The reason might come down to diving deeper into Yelich’s numbers.
This is not singling out Mr. Vaughn, just that he asks a common Q.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) June 5, 2022
Yelich continues to bat third because the underlying numbers are strong - i.e. 85th pct. in barrel rate, 96th in hard hit - but mostly because you have to have a better option. "Anyone else" is not a good answer. https://t.co/6qTUpNS770
His exit velocity is averaging 92.1 with 72 hard-hit balls. Yelich had just 140 hard-hit balls last season.
Yelich has a 52.2 hard-hit percentage. That is better than his 2018 percentage. He has a .270 expected batting average.
Yelich is still squaring up the ball well and hitting the ball hard. Just seems like he is getting some bad breaks.
The Milwaukee Brewers’ former All-Star is hitting .289 with runners in scoring position. He has a slash line of .431/.632/1.063 in those moments.
Maybe with Willy Adames’ and Hunter Renfroe’s return, things will get better.
Adames went to the IL on May 18th with an ankle injury. Yelich has gone 12-for-74 during that stretch. That is a .162 average for Yelich without Adames in the lineup.
Before Adames went down, Yelich was hitting .252 on the season. Yelich’s average has dropped 34 percentage points without Adames hitting in front of him.
Maybe it is a coincidence but Yelich’s tailspin started to happen the moment Adames went on the IL.
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Renfroe has been out since May 23rd. Yelich is 7-for-53 in that span.
Maybe, Yelich is taking on a lot of the offensive pressure on himself with two big bats out of the lineup.
Adames and Renfroe are set to return from the IL on Tuesday.
Willy Adames: “I know we’re having a tough moment right now as a team, but I promise you we’re doing everything we can to be back as soon as we can.” pic.twitter.com/SV2ZtcG9oB
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) June 5, 2022
Hopefully, getting those two back can help take some of the attention off of Yelich’s struggles. That may allow Yelich a chance to refocus and find his swing. The Milwaukee Brewers could sure use it come October.