His MVP-level mentor
Even if Yelich wins award, impressing Bonds isn’t easy
The regular season is done, the playoffs are in progress, and the coronation awaits. Christian Yelich is widely expected to win the National League Most Valuable Player award next month.
Barry Bonds wanted to talk.
That the two men would talk was not unusual. In 2016, when Bonds was the batting coach for the Marlins, Yelich was one of his pupils.
Bonds knows a little about the MVP award. He is the only player in history to win the award seven times. In the final days of this season, as Yelich appeared to turn the MVP race into a rout, Bonds called.
“You’ve only got six more to go,” Bonds said he told Yelich.
Yelich, who leads the Brewers into Game 3 of the NL Championship Series against the Dodgers on Monday, is 26. When Bonds won his first MVP, he was 26.
Yelich led the NL this season in slugging and OPS, each for the first time. Bonds led the NL in slugging seven times, in OPS nine times. He hit more home runs than anyone in major-league history.
Surely, Bonds cannot expect Yelich to match his feats. None of the other 19,428 players in majorleague history have.
“That’s who I am,” Bonds said. “That’s my character. I told him, ‘I love you, that’s great, now let’s move on.’
“‘I want you to go after seven. We want a repeat. Great hitters repeat. Let’s not be happy with one. Let’s repeat it.’ ”
In Yelich, Bonds saw a great hitter, even amid the persistent losing that marked his time with the Marlins. To Bonds, Yelich kept an open mind about hitting, picked up on suggestions quickly, and did not let one bad day bleed into the next.
“When you’ve got a guy who is a contact hitter and can hit the ball out of the ballpark,” Bonds said, “they’ve got a chance for really good success.”
Yelich said he is thankful for Bonds’ advice and support, and not just in that one year in Miami.
“He’s helped me tremendously throughout my career,” Yelich said. “Any time a player with those credentials is proud of what you have accomplished, that’s great.
“I haven’t won an MVP yet. As nice as it is for Barry to say, it hasn’t actually happened yet.”
Bonds made that exact same point.
“If he does get it — and I say if, so don’t write I said when — six more to go, brother,” Bonds said. “I’m rooting for him.”
Yelich smiled when he heard those words. Setting a high bar is one thing, but winning six more MVP awards?
“He has got a million of those things,” Yelich said.