Christian Yelich has returned to form as one of the best players in baseball. Most recently, Yelich led the Milwaukee Brewers to a 4-0 win against the Philadelphia Phillies. He singled in his first at-bat, blasted a three-run homer off Taijuan Walker, then legged out a double to right-center in his third at-bat. The two-time All-Star came within a triple shy of the cycle, and if he did, he would have been the first player in MLB history to hit for the cycle four times. Yelich looks to be back, but not entirely on the same mark as when he was the MVP, slugging .650 in 2018. Many wondered if Yelich would ever come back.
First pitch. First swing.
Don’t sleep on 22. #ThisIsMyCrew | @ChristianYelich pic.twitter.com/N5ALV29dTP
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 20, 2023
Christian Yelich Snaps Back to Reality
Yelich Metrics This Season
xBA- .296
xSLG- .491
xWOBA- .379
Barrel/PA %. 6.9
All best stats since 2019
Yelich’s slashline looks like one when he was with the Miami Marlins. Before he was the Mvp and exploded into a player, he became with Milwaukee. His expected batting average is nearly .300, his expected slugging is almost at .550, and his barrel is very high. All that, including his three-hit day in Philadelphia, where he raised his OPS to .856, the highest it’s been at any point of the season in the last four years. Yelich is hitting the ball hard and striking out less. His exit velocity and exit barrel percentage have all gone up. Even his hard-hit rate is the highest in the last three to four years.
From Injuries to Redemption
Nobody believed that Yelich would come back to his true form. When he fouled a pitch off his kneecap to his season in 2019, he was leading the NL in batting average, on-base, and slugging. The reigning NL MVP at the time was on pace for one of the best offensive seasons in MLB history. He became a shadow of himself in 2020 when he struck out more than 30 percent of his plate appearances. He also saw his batting average drop 100-plus points.
His total lack of power the next two seasons, just 23 combined home runs, could be a factor in his long history of back issues. Three straight seasons of a mid-.700s OPS with assorted IL stints concluded he was coming out of his prime. But, a more recovered Yelich hit his 14th home run of the season, leaving him tied with his total from last year. While he’s not in MVP form, his play made way for him to establish himself as a top-ten outfielder in the majors. He is still a tremendous power-speed threat who’s been among the best hitters in the last two months. This production, including an .850 OPS and 21 stolen bases, is what Brewers fans hoped for when Yelich signed his extension in 2020.
Is He A Top 10 Outfielder?
Christian Yelich, who is batting .343 (49-for-143) with 30 runs, 7 HR and 29 RBI in his last 36 games, now ranks among the NL leaders in the following categories:#ThisIsMyCrew I @ChristianYelich pic.twitter.com/GlF2kUazhu
— Mike Vassallo (@MikeVassallo13) July 21, 2023
Yelich is a top-ten outfielder in the game. He went from a good player for the Marlins to one of the most important players in the game. He’s the most significant because he plays for a small market team in Milwaukee. Yelich is constantly put up with a challenge offensively to score runs. The 31-year-old is the biggest reason the Brewers scored enough runs to get to the postseason. It’s rare for a player like Yelich to be young and good, but he dropped as far as he did. A close comparison to Yelich’s situation is Jeff Burroughs. Burroughs won AL MVP with the Texas Rangers, then went way down but returned later with Atlanta as he had a 41-home run season. Yelich is on a different path than Burroughs, as he remains a top-ten outfielder in baseball. The unlikely leadoff man with a team lead in both runs scored (71) and RBI (54) is precisely enough on this team.
Photo Credit: © Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
