Milwaukee Brewers baseball is nearly upon us. On Wednesday February 14, Valentine’s Day of all days, pitchers and catchers reported to Arizona for spring training. The 2024 Brewers, of course, will look much different than the 2023 version. Former manager Craig Counsell now manages Milwaukee’s biggest rival, the Chicago Cubs. Corbin Burnes was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for left-handed pitcher DL Hall and infielder Joey Ortiz.
Furthermore, Brandon Woodruff was non-tendered and remains a free agent after shoulder injuries cost him most of 2023 and could jeopardize his career. Rowdy Tellez is gone and has been replaced by Rhys Hoskins, formerly of the Philadelphia Phillies. For a hot minute, it seemed like Gary Sanchez was going to join the team as the primary DH, but apparently the jury is still out on whether or not that will happen.
The 2024 Brewers seem to be anxious to get back to it, to prove to the national media and Major League Baseball that, despite the changes, they can still be a competitive team and a threat to win the National League Central Division. Todd Rosiak of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel posted on X (formerly Twitter) that all position players have already reported to camp, even though they don’t have to be there until Monday.
That is, except two.
Christian Yelich and Brock Wilkens Are the Only 2 Position Players Currently Not at Milwaukee Brewers Spring Training
According to Rosiak, Christian Yelich and 2023 first round pick Brock Wilkens are the only two position players that have yet to report to spring training. He does note, though, that this is not necessarily a sign that something is wrong with either player as position players do not have to report until Monday:
Best as I can tell, everyone has reported to Brewers camp aside from Christian Yelich and 2023 first-rounder Brock Wilken. Nothing wrong with either player not being here since position-player report isn’t until Monday. Just an observation.
— Todd Rosiak (@Todd_Rosiak) February 16, 2024
Christian Yelich Looking to Build Off of Stronger 2023 for the Milwaukee Brewers
Every Brewers fan is familiar with the unfortunate situation. After winning the 2018 NL MVP Award by hitting .326/.402/.598 with 36 home runs and 110 RBI, Yelich was having an even better season in 2019. But then, he fouled a ball off of his knee and fractured his knee cap. At the time, he was hitting .329/.429/.671 with 44 home runs and 97 RBI.
And he has yet to even come close those numbers since returning in 2020. From 2020-2022, he hit .243/.358/.388 with 35 total home runs and 130 total RBI.
But in 2023, Yelich started hitting better than he had in three seasons. He ended last year with a .278/.377/.447 slash line with 19 home runs and 76 RBI. All of those numbers were his highest total since 2019. He also scored 106 runs.
Now, looking ahead to 2024, Yelich is surrounded with more talent than he has been since 2019. Hoskins is a legitimate power threat that will provide security to Yelich in the batting order. Furthermore, the young Freshmen (Brice Turang, Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick, and Joey Wiemer) now have a year of Major League experience under their belt.
In other words, with a better team around him, Yelich could be even better in 2024 than he was last season. Perhaps not 2018-19 levels of dominance, but perhaps back in the conversation as a potential All-Star.
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