Friday night the Milwaukee Brewers begin a home series against San Francisco, where Willy Adames signed last offseason for seven years and $182 million. His 2024 campaign for the Brewers was, by counting stats, his best at the plate: the slugging shortstop set career highs in homers, RBIs, runs, doubles, and steals.
Adames boosted his season numbers with a particularly strong July and August. In fact, his 10 August homeruns put him in company with a slew of franchise darlings who had at least eight in the month.
One player Milwaukee fans never expected to see on that list, courtesy of MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, is second baseman Brice Turang. At eight long balls and counting, he has a chance to catch Adames before month’s end.
Losing Adames was supposed to be a major blow to Milwaukee’s offense; for a while, it sure looked like it. That was before the offense led the National League in runs per game. As the Brewers host the Giants this weekend, Adames’ first time back at American Family Field, whether Turang can match him is another told-you-so side quest peaking at just the right time.
Turang’s tear has supplied plenty of pop for Milwaukee Brewers lineup
At the salary he commanded, the Brewers were never going to retain Adames despite his team-best production in the middle of the order. They’re looking pretty smart for it, too. In San Francisco, Adames has struggled all season excepting a torrid July. Overall, he’s hitting .222/.310/.397 with 20 homeruns and 63 RBIs: solid production for the position, but not quite what the Giants bargained for.
This month, Adames has four homeruns but is batting just .129.
Turang, on the other hand, will not stop mashing. After launching a two-run shot in Thursday’s 4-1 win, he is up to 20 RBIs on the month with an insane .366/.408./.789 slash line. From productive but quiet numbers, he has increased his season stats to 14 homers and 64 driven in with a .778 OPS. His 4.6 WAR leads the team and ranks sixth in the NL.
A cool off has to be coming, right? His sudden explosion of power had no track-record omen; in almost 1,000 at-bats, he had 13 career homeruns before this year. Even for a known slugger, his recent performance would qualify as one of those superhuman hot streaks unique to baseball.
Including Friday, Turang has 10 games left to match Adames’ mark from last year. Smacking one over the weekend – is a pair too much to ask? – would be the perfect bow on top as the Brewers prove themselves no worse for wear in Adames’ absence.
For More Great Wisconsin Content
Follow me on X at @ezsniper14 and follow us @WiSportsHeroics for more great content. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in Wisconsin sports, click here!
