The Brewers Must Make Opponents Pay for Giving Christian Yelich the Barry Bonds Treatment

Christian Yelich, you may have heard, is on an absolute tear. It remains hilarious that Derek Jeter traded him away when he had four years of team control at a modest rate. But as we look towards the future, it’s a very real possibility that opponents are going to start treating him like he’s 2004 Barry Bonds. If and when that manifests, the Brewers better get hits behind him. (In disclosure, I’m a Brewers fan.)

Even though Yelich’s torrid pace — 13 home runs and a 1.315 OPS so far — is unsustainable, opposing pitchers and managers aren’t going to just keep letting him murder baseballs. After giving up four home runs in three games, the Dodgers walked Yelich twice on Sunday, and the Brewers could not punch him in either time.

Thus far this season, Yelich, Lorenzo Cain (who leads off ahead of Yelich), and Yasmani Grandal are hitting well. Ryan Braun, Jesus Aguilar, and Travis Shaw are not. Braun has had some moments in big spots, but is nevertheless batting under .200. Aguilar is batting .136 and does not have a home run yet. Shaw is batting .178 and has just one homer.

When you have three hitters in various spots behind Yelich that are this cold — and that’s before you get to the bottom of the order where Orlando Arcia is batting .225 — it becomes an even more obvious strategic decision to walk him.

To repeat as NL Central winners in a season where the Cardinals have definitely gotten better and the Cubs have clawed back to .500 after a disastrous start, it is essential for the Brewers to figure out how to paint their opponents into a damned either way corner with Yelich. They have some pitching issues to address too — they need a top-line starter and also another bullpen arm — but for right now the lineup that they have needs to fix itself from within and have at least one less near automatic out.