The Milwaukee Brewers begin spring training on Wednesday as pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training. Once again, they will have to prove the baseball world wrong as many analysts predict them to finish around .500. This happens just about every year, yet the Brewers have won the National League Central Division in each of the past three seasons.
In order for Milwaukee to remain atop the division, and compete in the postseason, the players that they have and have retained must continue to make strides, especially at the plate.
Last year, Gold Glove second baseman Brice Turang had his best offensive season, surprising many of his won fans. However, one MLB analyst does not think his success will continue in 2026.
MLB analyst predicts Milwaukee Brewers star Brice Turang will regress
In a recent article in which he lists 10 MLB hitters who will regress in 2026, Joel Rueter of Bleacher Report names Turang as one of them, stating:
“Turang had a combined 13 homers in 1,067 plate appearances during his first two seasons in the majors, so the 18-homer pop is the biggest eyebrow-raiser in his stat line, but the bigger problem might be his strikeout rate spiking from 17.0 to 22.8 percent. With middling bat speed (27th percentile) there’s a good chance the over-the-fence production will regress, and selling out for more power could end up having the opposite effect going forward.”
Last season, Turang hit .288/.359/.435 with 18 home runs and 81 RBI. Most of his home runs came in the month of August, when he slugged 10 of them. He did not hit more than three home runs in any other month.
That being said, it should not be assumed that Turang will be chasing home runs in 2026. While his late season pop was a pleasant surprise for fans, it should be noted that, after August, he only hit two home runs the rest of the season. However, he still slashed .294/.400/.435.
It is true, though, that Turang struck out more in 2025 than he did in 2024. Last season, he struck out 150 times in 156 games. In 2024, he had 105 strikeouts in 155 games.
At the same time, he had a .356 BAbip (batting average of balls in play) in 2025 compared to a .300 BAbip in 2024. In other words, when Turang did make contact, he got more hits than he did in the past.
Obviously, strikeouts are never good. They are the least productive outs in baseball, and striking out 150 times in a season is, to be blunt, not good. However, the other metrics and stats that point to his success should not be overlooked either. He also walked more last season than he did in 2024.
If he can keep his strikeout numbers down, Turang may end up with a Silver Slugger as well as a Gold Glove this season.
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