Yelich still seeking past greatness
PHOENIX – The good news for the Milwaukee Brewers is that Christian Yelich entered spring training in the best place he's been in several years both physically and mentally.
The bad news is that's no guarantee he's poised for a monster comeback season.
Since winning the National League's most valuable player award in 2018 and finishing as runner-up to Cody Bellinger in 2019 after a broken kneecap ended his season prematurely, Yelich has continued to chase his former greatness.
But he hasn't come close to reaching it.
There were positive signs for Yelich in 2022 as he led the Brewers in games played, at-bats, runs scored, hits, walks and stolen bases. He also provided a season highlight when he hit for his third career cycle against the Cincinnati Reds on May 11.
But his overall line – .252 average, 14 home runs, 57 runs batted in, OPS of of .738 – wasn't inspiring.
And it's now been two full seasons since Yelich has been the game-changing, middle-of-the-order bat that Milwaukee was expecting would anchor its lineup for years to come when the team signed him to the largest contract in franchise history in March of 2020.
“It's two years that haven't been '18 and '19,” manager Craig Counsell said. “If you're looking at it like that, I think that's the mistake that we've all made with this. And that's the hard part for Christian, frankly, too. That's the really challenging part, is that there's really good, productive players – great players – that aren't the MVP. But you get measured by your best performances. And we should be measured by our best performances, because that's clearly in us.
“That's what's still great about Chris
tian, is that's in him. Those performances are in him. And that's a blessing and a curse. From Christian's end, you've just got to commit to doing your process and your quest to be the best -- it's very cliche -- version of yourself. That's really all you can commit to in this process. And then you've got to live with it, and you've got to not get bogged down by it when it's not exactly what you want.
“That's the challenge for him.” Here are four areas to watch with regard to Yelich heading into the season:
To have a strong season, it helps to be healthy
While Yelich still hasn't come close in the past three seasons to posting the types of numbers he did during his MVP runs of 2018 and 2019, he did manage to play in 154 games (149 starts) in 2022.
That topped his previous high of 147 games played with Milwaukee. Yelich set a career high with 156 games played in 2017, in his age-25 season with the Miami Marlins.
By being available so often last season, Yelich also set new Brewer highs for himself with 671 plate appearances and 575 at-bats.
When asked what he was most pleased with when looking back at last year, Yelich mulled the question for a few beats before mentioning his availability.
“Just playing a lot is probably the one thing,” he said. “Ran out there most of the days.”
To that end, he enters 2023 in a good place after mentally resetting in the offseason as well as recuperating physically.
“I do feel like I'm in as good a spot as I have been in a few years, body and healthwise,” Yelich said. “Whether that translates or not, who knows? It's been an interesting couple years just as far as getting back to where I want to be physically, and I feel like I'm at that point.
“It's a good feeling.”
Yelich was limited to 117 games in 2021 with a balky back necessitating two trips to the injured list leading to 27 games missed (he also missed 10 more due to a case of COVID-19).
Since then, Counsell has found a sweet spot with regard to spotting Yelich occasional days off for rest while Yelich has zeroed in on a way to keep himself feeling good most of the time.
“I think I've got a decent idea of how to stay healthy,” Yelich said. “There's a lot of randomness to it throughout the year. There's some luck to it but also some preparation and routine that goes into it, too.
“That's the goal every year, is to be available. And to have a good year, you have to be able to play. That's the first step in anything. And if you're out there, you kind of just go from there.”
Yelich might actually DH less in 2023 than he did in 2022
Another way to help Yelich manage his health is getting him days off his feet in the field by utilizing him at designated hitter.
Yelich made 114 starts in left field last year and 35 more at DH.
With Jesse Winker onboard this year and expected to see most of the DH duty in the early going as he works his way back from neck surgery, that will leave Yelich to play in left.
“He DHed quite a bit last year,” Counsell said of Yelich. “If anything, I would hope that it's maybe a little less this year. He certainly will DH, but I would hope that it's a little less. That's a question that gets answered during the season.
“I don't really have any expectations, honestly. It gets answered based on how's Jesse Winker doing with his health? Who else is in the picture in the outfield? What's our health status? Ideally, we would love Christian to play a lot of games.
“The best way for him to play a lot of games is to give him a break DHing sometimes.”
Added Yelich: “I'm cool with doing whatever. It doesn't really bother me either way. I like being out there. Obviously, injuries are a tricky situation and you never really know how the year is going to play out, but I'm cool with whatever.”
Production-wise, Yelich didn't fare all that well in the DH role with a .236 average and .634 OPS in 154 plate appearances.
Then, of course, there's Yelich's defensive shortcomings in left.
In 2022, he accounted for minus-4 outs above average and minus-2 defensive runs saved in left with a throwing arm that ranked 262nd among 368 qualified players in the majors and 151st out of 155 qualified outfielders.
Where Yelich will bat in the lineup remains to be seen
Much was made of Counsell's move of Yelich into the leadoff spot early last June.
With Yelich struggling to drive in runs, the thought was his ability to get on base and put pressure on the defense with his legs might help jump-start him as well as the rest of the lineup.
There were some strong stretches for Yelich along the way, and in the end he wound up hitting .267 with eight homers, 30 RBI and a .767 OPS over 89 games in the top spot.
Counsell has never been one to entertain lineup questions and early in camp he indicated he's nowhere close to settling on even a rough alignment.
“It doesn't really matter,” Yelich said when asked if he had a preference. “Like I said (last year), if you do hit leadoff, you lead off one time and then it's wherever you come up the rest of the game. I'm comfortable wherever. I've hit all over my career. I've been in different spots.
“I haven't talked to Couns about any of that and it doesn't sound like he even knows what that looks like yet. I'm sure there will be a time in the next week or two where we talk about it and get it ironed out.
“I'm good with whatever he wants to do and wherever he wants to put me.”
Even at age 31, Yelich still runs exceedingly well and in 2022 he stole 19 bases while ranking in the 70% percentile in the majors in sprint speed.
“I feel the same. I feel like I never really lost any speed. I still feel like I'm a pretty good runner,” Yelich said. “I don't know what the numbers say, but I don't feel like I've lost a step.
“When things are going right, I feel like I can contribute in a lot of ways, actually. Even when I was having those really good years, I was stealing a lot of bases (22 in 2018, 30 in 2019). I did that a little bit last year. That was good.
“It's something I can probably do a little bit more of, look for.”
Somehow, some way, Yelich needs to get back to driving the baseball
There was nobody better than Yelich at doing offensive damage when he was going right.
In 2018 he led the NL by slugging .598 with a line-drive rate of 27.4% and a year later he upped his slugging percentage to .671, a total that led the majors, with a career-high fly ball rate of 28.1%.
Last season, while Yelich ranked in the 89th percentile in average exit velocity and in the 90th percentile in hard-hit percentage, he also hit the ball on the ground 59.1% of the time – the second-highest total of his career.
His line-drive percentage was also a career low at 19.7%.
A hitter simply can't do damage on a regular basis by hitting the ball on the ground as often as Yelich did in 2022.
Figuring out a way to help Yelich rediscover that launch-angle greatness that he rode to his career years remains at or near the top of the to-do lists of hitting coaches Ozzie Timmons and Connor Dawson.