There is a lot to be excited about regarding Brewers new addition William Contreras. The 24 year old catcher was an All-Star in 2022 and is under club control through 2027. He is a bat first type player and should be a focal point in the Brewers lineup for years to come. During his breakout season last year with the Braves, he recorded a statistic that just three other catchers have accomplished since the year 2000.
William Contreras is just one of four catchers to post an OPS+ of 138 since the year 2000.
William Contreras had a 138 OPS+ as a 24-year-old primary catcher last year. Here’s the entire list of players to do so since 1900, surprisingly led by a late great rapper. pic.twitter.com/XUtkvzSyoQ
— Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) December 13, 2022
The other catchers with an OPS+ of 138 or greater since 2000 are Joe Mauer, Brian McCann, and Alex Avila. This puts Contreras in some good company, especially given how young he is. His goal should be to get his name on this list several more times throughout his career.
One caveat with this statistic is that Contreras logged a significantly fewer number of plate appearances than most of the others on the list. In 2022 he had just 376 plate appearances over 97 games. He did put up some gaudy numbers though as he finished the year with 20 home runs and a .506 slugging percentage.
Hopefully Contreras will be able to continue to produce as his games played and plate appearance will likely rise in 2023. The Brewers are very high on his ability to perform as a hitter, so it’s possible that he sees his fair share of opportunities at designated hitter.
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