It was a shock when the Atlanta Braves traded All-Star catcher William Contreras in a three-team deal that would land him with the Milwaukee Brewers. They didn’t know it yet, but the Brewers’ front office had gotten a steal.
Sure it took Contreras a minute to get comfortable with a new team, acclimated to an entirely different playing atmosphere, but once he did, he never looked back. He quickly became a fan favorite and only continues to keep getting better.
Milwaukee Brewers’ William Contreras is making a statement, proving he’s the best catcher in MLB.
In 43 games this season, while he’s only slammed six home runs, Contreras is currently on a nine-game hitting streak, 23-game on-base streak, and has reached base in 40 of 43 games played. The catcher is slashing .359/.434/.553 with an OPS of .987, 39 runs in 170 AB’s this season.
William Contreras:
🔵 9-game hit streak
🔵 23-game on-base streak
🔵 Reached base in 40 of 43 games
🔵 1st in NL in runs
🔵 2nd in averageBest catcher in baseball. pic.twitter.com/8t486sEGiK
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) May 15, 2024
Contreras is the kind of player that any team would want at the plate. It’s fair to say that he is the best catcher in baseball. He leads the National League in runs, and dominates whether he’s up to bat or catching the balls and strikes behind the plate.
William Contreras Leads MLB in This Interesting Statistic
Statcast recently put out this new form of bat-tracking metrics, and it gave more reason as to why Contreras is the best catcher in MLB.
A new metric called a “blast”, is defined as “when a batter squares up a ball and does so with a minimum bat speed” (MLB.com). In a list that includes names like Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, William Contreras is at the top with 59 blasts this season.
Seeing his name above Soto and Ohtani might come as a shock to some, but to Brewers fans, it makes sense. Contreras puts in the work, and he’s dedicated to improving his game. He models some of his game after some of baseball’s best catchers like Salvador Perez and Yadier Molina, making Contreras stand out from the rest of the catchers in the game right now.
Contreras batted leadoff in Wednesday’s thrilling 10-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates where the Brewers mashed five homers, one of them being from the catcher. He finished his gam with three hits and four RBIs in his 18th multi-hit game this season; Ohtani is the only player above Contreras with more.
With Rhys Hoskins on the IL with a hamstring injury, the Brewers are going to have to rely on players like Contreras and even backup catcher Gary Sanchez to come in and help lighten the load. It’s likely that we’ll see more of that duo in the lineup in a DH/Catcher combination as Hoskins is expected to be sidelined for the next 2-4 weeks.
When one out of every four of your hits/swings is a blast and we’re only a month into the season? There’s no telling what Contreras will bring for the rest of the season. He’s been able to keep the ball on the barrel and hit it with intent. Even teammate and former MVP Christian Yelich said that Contreras has made great improvements.
“He’s made huge improvements, right? He had a great year last year and was a really good player for us,” Yelich said. “But he’s really taken that next step offensively, defensively, baserunning. He’s committed to wanting to be the best version of himself and the best player he can be. Obviously he’s incredibly talented. I think he can really, really hit. He has a really good idea of what he’s doing up there.”
