Brewers Sal Frelick Setting Himself Up for Big League Promotion
The Milwaukee Brewers have an abundance of outfield talent in the minor leagues.
The 18-year-old Jackson Chourio could potentially be the be the top prospect in all of baseball next year. Joey Weimer is 6’5, has an unbelievable arm, and has stolen 28 bases so far this year.
Garrett Mitchell is a fantastic athlete who uses his terrific speed on the base paths and while patrolling the outfield. But no Brewers prospect has been more impressive in recent weeks than Sal Frelick.
It’s been a very impressive season for Brewers prospect Sal Frelick
Frelick, who turned 22 in April, has had a meteoric rise through the Brewers farm system. Drafted in the first round of the 2021 draft, the Brewers No. 2 prospect started the 2022 season in High-A with the Wisconsin Timberrattlers.
It ended up being a short stay in Appleton for Frelick, as he quickly gained a promotion after just 21 games, slashing .291/.391/.456. Double-A with the Biloxi Shuckers proved to be not too big of a challenge either, as Frelick slashed .317/.380/.464 in 52 games.
On August 2nd, Frelick once again received a promotion, this time to Triple-A with the Nashville Sounds. After a 3-for-4 showing with a walk Friday night, Frelick is now slashing an incredible .421/.511/.553 in his first 10 games with the Sounds, good for an OPS of 1.064.
In fact, in the month of August, Frelick is leading the entire International League (Triple-A affiliates for 20 teams) in hits.
The boys are on the board and @SalFrelick has another multi-hit game. In 10 games with the Sounds, Frelick has 6 multi-hit games. #HitCity pic.twitter.com/y4BNhq4X0u
— Nashville Sounds (@nashvillesounds) August 13, 2022
What makes Frelick so impressive is his bat-to-ball-skills. Frelick puts up really solid at bats and does not strike out. This year in all three levels, Frelick currently has a strikeout rate of 12.8%.
For reference, this year the average strikeout rate in the International League is 23.4%. Frelick does an outstanding job of putting the ball in play and gives himself a chance to reach base with his superb speed.
Another component that makes Frelick so intriguing is his spray chart. Frelick is a true line to line hitter, meaning that the vast majority of the time he is either pulling the ball to the corner or slapping the ball to the opposite field.
In his first 10 games in Triple-A, 48.4% of the time Frelick has pulled the ball while he has gone to the opposite field 45.2% of the time. This means that Frelick has hit the ball to center field only 6.5% of the time. Of course, this is a small sample size and the percent of balls hit to center field will most likely increase to around 20-25%.
Regardless, Frelick is a very hard batter to shift against as he sprays the ball around the field.
It is clear that the Brewers need more help in the outfield, specifically in center field. Brewers center fielders have the fifth worst on-base percentage and slugging percentage in the MLB.
Although Frelick does not have much raw power being 5’10, he makes up for the lack of power by stretching singles into doubles.
A player like Frelick could be exactly what the Brewers need to rejuvenate their offense: a guy that gets on base at a high rate, is dangerous on the base paths, and plays great defense with positional versatility throughout the outfield.
What Frelick is doing right now should not be overlooked. To start the season in High-A and to now be in the discussion for a late season call up is an impressive feat. Regardless if we see him in a major league game this year or next year, Frelick is setting himself up to be a cornerstone of the Brewers lineup for years to come.