The 5 Most Important Milwaukee Brewers This Season

The Milwaukee Brewers are not expected to repeat as the NL Central Division champions.

The Cincinnati Reds made upgrades to their rotation, the Chicago Cubs lured former Brewers manager Craig Counsell away, and the Crew traded away ace pitcher Corbin Burnes. Also, Brandon Woodruff will miss all of the 2024 season as he recovers from shoulder surgery.

Fangraphs projects the Brewers will win 80 games. A few matchups going the Brew Crew's way could improve that total and sneak out a possible wild card.

If the Brewers are going to be competitive, they need these five players to step up...

Freddy Peralta

He is now the ace of the staff. Peralta has made an All-Star appearance and has good stuff. He struggles with his command and can get knocked out early in games.

He is projected to finish with a 3.1 fWAR, a 3.77 ERA, and a 3.88 FIP.

Abner Uribe (or whoever is picked to be the closer while Devin Williams is out)

Devin Williams is going to miss several months with a back injury. Williams is one of the best closers in baseball, so is injury leaves a huge void.

The Crew's strength once again will be the bullpen. Uribe is the hardest thrower of them all and is a natural choice to be the closer despite a bad Cactus League. Most of the bullpen is not throwing well in Arizona. Trevor Megill, Joel Payamps, and Hoby Millner could also close games.

William Contreras

He led the team last year with a .825 OPS. Contreras needs to lead a revamped offense that now has Rhys Hoskins in the lineup and is hoping for second-year improvements from Brice Turang and Sal Frelick.

Contreras and Christian Yelich were the only bats the Brewers could count on consistently. They are going to need him again to be a consistent offensive threat.

Jackson Chourio

It is a lot to put a 19-year-old rookie with an important player designation. He signed an eight-year, $80 million contract extension without ever playing an MLB game.

The Crew is making a big bet that he will be the face of the franchise for the rest of the decade. That is why he needs to get off to a good start.

Christian Yelich

He might not be an MVP player anymore, but he showed he still can provide value to the lineup. The Brewers need him to produce like he did last season to be a catalyst for the revamped offense.

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