{"id":71666,"date":"2024-04-30T09:00:39","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T13:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=71666"},"modified":"2024-04-29T23:57:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T03:57:41","slug":"william-contreras-proving-leader-brewers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/30\/william-contreras-proving-leader-brewers\/","title":{"rendered":"World Series Champion Proving To Be Strong Leader For Brewers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former World Series champion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/contrwi02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-29_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">William Contreras<\/a> is proving to be a strong, durable leader for the NL Central-leading <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/12\/revitalized-hitting-brewers-impact\/\" target=\"_self\">Milwaukee Brewers<\/a>. Contreras, 26, continues to live up to his reputation as one of the premier catchers in Major League Baseball. Appearing to be in top form and on a mission to improve upon last year\u2019s performance that garnered both team MVP and Silver Slugger Award honors, he has showcased his durability in playing all 28 games.<\/p>\n<h2>William Contreras Proving To Be Reliable Leader for Brewers<\/h2>\n<p>The former All-Star and member of the 2021 World Series champion Atlanta Braves remains a productive offensive leader for Milwaukee. He has a .348 batting average and a .545 slugging percentage, generating 39 hits with 26 runs scored, seven doubles, five home runs, and 22 RBI.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\u201cHe got traded over to the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Brewers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Brewers<\/a>, and since he&#8217;s been there he has been nothing short of fantastic.\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Anthony_Recker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Anthony_Recker<\/a> looks at William Contreras&#8217; season and the adjustments he has made to reach the next level offensively. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QFrfaeOxu4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/QFrfaeOxu4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLBNetwork\/status\/1784016863053451732?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 27, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In his second year with the Brewers after being acquired in a trade, Contreras has lived up to the billing as a strong, consistent force at the plate. He is currently ranked fourth in the NL in batting average, registering at least one hit in 22 of 28 games this season with a major league-leading 13 multi-hit games to his credit. In a 12-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners at American Family Field on April 7, he achieved an individual season-high four hits and two home runs, the fourth multi-homer game of his career.<\/p>\n<p>Contreras, the younger brother of current St. Louis Cardinals All-Star catcher and World Series champion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/contrwi01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-29_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Willson Contreras<\/a>, maintains a humble but driven approach. &#8220;I try to come in and not be overconfident in myself,&#8221; said the Spanish-speaking Contreras via an interpreter in a spring training with David Adler of MLB.com. He added, &#8220;I know I am one of the best catchers, but it\u2019s always on my mind that I haven\u2019t achieved anything this season. I haven\u2019t done anything. And I come to work hard every day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Fifth-Year Major League Veteran Striving For Excellence<\/h2>\n<p>Contreras played in a career-high 141 games in 2023, tying for fourth among catchers with 108 appearances behind the plate. In the process, he established himself as a viable multi-talented offensive and defensive threat for the defending NL Central Division champions. Despite last season&#8217;s post-season accolades, Contreras is quick to point out that it&#8217;s all about improvement each time stepping on the field. Said Contreras, &#8220;I am a player who wants to enjoy the game, enjoy every moment playing ball and the results will come on their own.&#8221; He then added, &#8220;I have my own goals. I would like to be in the All-Star Game, and win the division again with the team. I&#8217;m going to compete for the Silver Slugger, which I want to win again after last year, and the Gold Glove.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Last season, he boasted a .289 batting average with 156 hits, 86 runs scored, 17 home runs, and 78 RBI while at the same time gaining a reputation defensively as one of the league&#8217;s top pitch framers and receivers.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">William Contreras leads the majors in multi-hit games so far this season.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Brewers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Brewers<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ThisIsMyCrew?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#ThisIsMyCrew<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lnkM6I0vlJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/lnkM6I0vlJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/baseball_ref\/status\/1785028976706015592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Brewers are currently 17-11 overall but remain half a game out of first within the highly contested division race. Contreras, a 2022 All-Star selection, has been a steady influence on a young, aggressive, hard-hitting club that is fifth in all of baseball with a .255 team batting average. With 2018 NL MVP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/y\/yelicch01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-29_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christian Yelich<\/a> still recovering from back problems and the team enduring a three-game losing streak, his ongoing leadership will be invaluable moving forward.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former World Series champion William Contreras is proving to be a strong, durable leader for the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers. Contreras, 26, continues to live up to his reputation as one of the premier catchers in Major League Baseball. Appearing to be in top form and on a mission to improve upon last year\u2019s performance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5106,"featured_media":71893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1071],"tags":[404,5896,1478],"class_list":["post-71666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brewers","category-mlb","tag-christian-yelich","tag-william-contreras","tag-willson-contreras"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}