A Brewers slugger is expected to step up this season
The Milwaukee Brewers lost one of their best bats from 2022 this off-season. The Brewers traded away outfielder Hunter Renfroe in November for three pitching prospects. The Brewers have added some help to the offensive lineup. However, the team still needs its current roster to step up to score enough runs to make the postseason. A true Brewers slugger will need to be found for next season.
The Brewers are expected to be competitive this season. They narrowly missed the playoffs last season. The Brewers have a lot of young talent and prospects that will need to take a giant leap in 2023. One MLB writer thinks a major help for Milwaukee could come from an exciting first baseman.
MLB.com recently released an article that named one player from each team they think will have a breakout season in 2023. Brewers beat writer Adam McCalvy named Rowdy Tellez a Brewers slugger that could have a big season for the Brewers:
“On one hand, last year was a breakout of sorts for Tellez, who led the Brewers with 35 home runs. But despite that he was worth just 0.8 FanGraphs WAR, meaning there is room for much more production.
Next year’s rule changes could help; no Brewers player is happier to see the end of extreme infield shifts than Tellez, the left-handed slugger who was shifted against 78.4 percent of the time last season, according to Statcast, and batted .215 on balls in play. Of the 225 hitters who put at least 250 balls in play last year, only five of them had a greater deficit between his expected batting average and his actual batting average (Tellez’s xBA was .252 and his actual average was .219).”
If Tellez can have an even better season in 2023, the Brewers could be in good shape with their offense. He needs to be more consistent in getting on base. But his deep ball is exciting to watch. Tellez was must-watch television in 2022 when he came up to bat.
Hot Take of the Day:
— Devine Sports Gospel (@DevineGospel) November 4, 2022
Rowdy Tellez could be the Padres version of Kyle Schwarber next postseason.
Hit 35 HR in a lineup with much less protection than this Padres lineup.
Could easily hit 40+ next year.
Let’s Get San Diego ROWDY#TimeToShine pic.twitter.com/mTaDubwKlx
