Brewers expect big things from Contreras
PHOENIX – William Contreras set off alarm bells with the push of a button.
First, the Milwaukee Brewers catcher posted a tweet with a singular eye emoji in late October. A few weeks later, it was three facepalm emojis. Later, a trio of clocks. Then, Contreras sent a sand timer. For his final act, Contreras posted another pair of eyes and a sweating face.
A few shockwaves were sent with the tweets. Even more eyebrows were raised.
So what did the cryptic messages actually mean? Ask the author himself.
“Nothing,” Contreras cracked from American Family Fields of Phoenix. “I'm bored and I open Twitter. People start talking and they say, ‘What's going on?' What does he mean?'” Contreras said. “But it never means anything. It's just because I'm bored.”
This is what happens when Contreras, the busiest man in the Brewers clubhouse, has downtime. He doesn't know what to do with himself.
The reigning Silver Slugger is always busy, especially during the season. If you need him, check the weight room or trainer's room. If he isn't there, maybe the video room or meeting room. If it's a day he's catching, perhaps the batting cage. But he almost certainly isn't at his locker.
Contreras is always doing something. When he's not, he goes a bit stir crazy.
Contreras is cut from a different cloth than most, one with a fabric that seemingly never tears. "William – forced rest," Pat Murphy scribbled down during a recent session with the media.
Even the manager has a treacherous time trying to get Contreras to take a day off whether it's February or August. “He's a warrior,” Murphy said. Contreras is coming off a breakout season in which he batted .289 with an .825 OPS and 17 homers, established himself as one of baseball's better defenders behind the dish, finished 11th in National League balloting and won a Silver Slugger.
The work goes hand-in-hand with the success for Contreras. So does his mindset.
“He was motivated last year to prove to everyone he's a legitimate catcher. Now he's motivated to show everyone he's the best catcher in the world,” Brewers run prevention coordinator Walker McKinven said. "He's on one this year. He's got goals on his mind. He wants to be the best.”
Contreras is motivated by slights. When the Atlanta Braves traded him to Milwaukee last off-season, he heard reports that he was seen as expendable because of his defensive deficiencies. Contreras came to camp focused on improving as a receiver and wound up finishing fourth in baseball in framing runs added.
“Frankly, he's just built differently,” McKinven said. “He's one of the toughest dudes I've been around physically. And then mentally as well, he's just absolutely focused and determined. The physical toughness, though, is out of this world. On a 20 to 80, he's an 80 on toughness and physicality for sure.”
This offseason, Contreras not only came short of winning a Gold Glove, he wasn't even a finalist. MLB listed him fifth at catcher in its positional top 10 series. ESPN didn't even list him as one of baseball's 100 best players.
He took notice of it all. Don't think for a second he didn't.
“He wants to make it no question that he is the best,” McKinven said. “So he's working his tail off to make it happen. He's in the weight room, working his tail off with me, our pitchers, in the cage, all that stuff. He's been on a different level this year.”
Nobody around the Brewers is doubting Contreras. If anything, they're challenging him.
In Murphy's office is a note scribbled on a whiteboard.
WC Mamba Challenge.
It's an allusion, from Murphy to Contreras, to the challenges the late Kobe Bryant gave out to players, including Giannis Antetokounmpo, on social media. Under it, in red marker, it reads:
2nd ASG
Top 5 MVP
Silver Slug
G Glove
“One thing my experience enables me to do from just being around this long is you can sense when a guy is coming into his own,” Murphy said. “And this kid is coming into his own.”
Contreras sees those goals and raises them even higher.
“I want to be the best,” Contreras said. “Not just one of the best. The best.”
No cryptic messaging there.