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Revitalized Hitting Attack Making Strong Impact For Brewers

When looking at the exciting early-season success of the Milwaukee Brewers, it’s clear that a revitalized, aggressive hitting attack has been key to the resurgence. The first-place and defending National League Central Division champions have maintained a respectable .272 team batting average through the first 11 games, generating 65 runs on 104 hits with 16 home runs, 17 doubles, and 63 RBI.

Revitalized Hitting Attack Powers Brewers

Contreras, Turang Leading Early Resurgence

William Contreras (.364 batting average), Brice Turang (.342), and Christian Yelich (.316) continue to lead first-place Milwaukee, which is currently 8-3 overall (.727 winning percentage) and boasts the best record in the NL and third-best in Major League Baseball. The team has scored seven or more runs in four straight games, something it hasn’t done since the first week of April 2023.

 

Contreras, 26, continues to live up to his reputation as one of the premier catchers in baseball, appears to be in top form, and is looking to improve upon last year’s performance that garnered an All-Star selection and Silver Slugger Award honors. The Silver Slugger Award, an annual since 1980, is presented to the best offensive player at each position in the American and National League. Through 11 games this season, he remains the team’s offensive leader with a .364 batting average, generating 16 hits with 10 runs scored, four doubles, two home runs and 11 RBI. In a 12-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners at American Family Field on April 7, Contreras finished with four hits and two home runs to lead the Brewers, becoming the fourth multi-home run game of his career.

Turang, 24, has impressed early on as the team’s high-energy second baseman, producing a consistent .342 average with 13 hits, eight runs scored, seven RBI, and seven stolen bases. He has four multi-hit games to his credit, highlighted by a breakout individual effort in Milwaukee’s 10-8 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on April 8, finishing 2-for-4 with four RBI, including a two-run homer in the fifth and two-run double in the sixth. Turang, a former 2018 first-round draft pick of the Brewers (21st pick overall), made his MLB debut last year.

Rejuvenated Yelich Returns To All-Star Form

Yelich, 32, signed a hefty, highly publicized nine-year $215 million contract in 2020 and appears to have returned to the All-Star outfielder of yesteryear that earned NL Most Valuable Player honors in 2018. As the team’s highest-paid player, he has set the tone with a rejuvenated, disciplined .316 average with 12 hits, 11 RBI, seven runs scored, and team-leading five home runs. The left-handed power-hitting Yelich has homered in four of his last seven games to set the pace for the high-powered Brewers as of late, the latest being a two-run, first-inning shot in a 7-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on April 10. In the season-opening 3-1 road victory over the New York Mets, he finished 3-for-4 with a home run and hasn’t slowed down since.

 

With the strong, steady progression of young players such as Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelich, Oliver Dunn, Joey Ortiz, and Blake Perkins added to the mix, the sky is the limit for what the Brewers can accomplish at the plate this season. They may not be the high-powered Bambi’s Bombers of 1978 or Harvey’s Wallbangers of 1982, but with continued success, first-year manager Pat Murphy’s blue-collar squad has the potential to make a lasting name for itself. Only time will tell.

Main Photo Credits: Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeff Hagenau

Jeff Hagenau

Jeff has been a sports writer in southeast Wisconsin for the past 27 years, covering at the high school, collegiate and professional levels. He graduated from Carroll University with a degree in journalism and covers the Milwaukee Brewers for Last Word On Sports.

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