This season has been far from steady by William Contreras' normal standard, but the 28-year-old catcher is finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel again. He's hitting a solid .271 on the season for 127 hits and 12 home runs, but that doesn't tell the full story of his offensive production over the course of the year.
Defensively, Contreras has been as consistent as ever, but it's the offensive side of the game where he's struggled at times. Contreras played some good ball, albeit a little bit short of his standard for much of the early stretch of the year until a roughly six-week stretch from July into mid-August, when his batting average dropped to .159 with more strikeouts than hits (24 to 21).
Thankfully for Brewers fans, the tide has shifted back in Contreras' direction, and he's currently on a hot streak you wouldn't believe unless you see it. In eight games since Aug. 15, he's hitting .485 with 16 hits, eight runs and six RBI to lead the Brewers' offense in a time when they've needed it most.
With only a month left in the regular season and the Brewers competing for a first-round bye, Contreras might be the key to making everything fall into place the way they imagined it.
The Milwaukee Brewers need William Contreras at his best to be taken seriously in the postseason.
An All-Star for the third time in his career this season, Contreras is one of the most consistent presences at his position, but that doesn't mean he can slow down anytime soon. The Brewers need 'Wild Bill' in order to be the team they envisioned themselves as by the end of this season.
Maintaining his current pace is highly unlikely, as it's not fair to expect anyone who gets hot to uphold that level of statistical production through the full course of a season. With that said, if Contreras can level out and play closer to how he did in the beginning of the year versus his latest rut, it's going to be a massive difference-maker for the Brewers down the stretch of the season.
For a team without a ton of true power hitting, Contreras is one of their best options in that regard, and he only has 12 home runs on the season. But that doesn't mean his season is lost, and that's what manager Pat Murphy is trying to get into Contreras' head now that he's finding success:
“I think William knows he's being way more disciplined,” Murphy said to Adrian Garro. “Just look at his ball-strike recently. He's faced two of the best pitchers in the league [Sale and Martín Pérez] the last two days, and look at how he's kept himself disciplined. That is the key -- discipline. Swinging at the right pitches with a simple swing, trying to stay in the middle of the field. That's what William's gotta do, and he's executed pretty well.”
Discipline has been a common theme for these Brewers late in the season, as Pat Murphy drilled into the head of Cooper Pratt and the rest of the locker room just last game. However, as one of the steady veteran hands of this Milwaukee lineup, it's up to Contreras to find that within himself instead of seeking elsewhere for answers, or trying too hard to chase home runs instead of letting them find him more naturally.
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