The Milwaukee Brewers are 24-15 with a one-and-a-half game lead over the Craig Counsell-led Chicago Cubs after their 5-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night. Aired on national television (on Fox), the announcers, Ken Rosenthal, John Smoltz, and Joe Davis gave Brewers fans a nice perspective on how the team is viewed outside of Milwaukee.
In short, no one outside of the Brewers’ organization or fandom believed that Milwaukee would be competing for the top spot in the National League Central Division. “We knew the NL Central was going to be wide open,” they said. “We just didn’t think it would be wide open for the Brewers.”
Indeed, perhaps the Brewers’ fast start and their place atop the division is a big surprise to even their own fans. After all, Milwaukee’s starting rotation has been riddled with injuries and 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes was traded in the offseason.
While key offensive pieces like Christian Yelich, William Contreras, and Willy Adames are all contributing like they are expected to, Milwaukee has also seen leaps from other players, which have helped raise the team to the point where they are now. One of these young stars was recently put on Bleacher Report‘s MLB All-Breakout Team (for mid-May).
Milwaukee Brewers Second Baseman Brice Turang Gets High Praise from MLB Analyst
Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report recently published an article in which he named one player at each position that he feels has broken out this year. At second base, he selected Brewers second baseman Brice Turang:
“Brice Turang was one of baseball’s best defensive second basemen as a rookie last season, logging elite defensive metrics (12 DRS, 5.2 UZR/150) en route to a 1.6-WAR debut. However, his offensive game lagged behind.
“The 2018 first-round pick hit a punchless .218/.285/.300 for a 62 OPS+ with only 18 extra-base hits in 448 plate appearances. His hold on the starting second base job entering the year was tenuous at best.
“With modest improvements to his average exit velocity (85.5 to 89.5 mph) and hard-hit rate (26.0 to 32.7 percent), Turang’s offensive numbers are up across the board. He is also putting his terrific speed to good use with a perfect 15-for-15 showing on stolen base attempts.”
Since writing Reuter wrote this article, Turang stole another base, making him 16-16 on stolen base attempts.
The sophomore second baseman is hitting .302/.368/.426 with two home runs and 14 RBI. He has also hit 10 doubles already this season after hitting nine in 137 games played last year.
Milwaukee Brewers Manager Pat Murphy Predicted Brice Turang Would Breakout in 2024
Back in mid-March, Brewers manager Pat Murphy, when asked about Turang, was quoted as saying: “I’m expecting this kid to take a quantum leap.”
The question came at the same time that Murphy named Turang the Brewers’ Opening Day second baseman. Many wondered if the young speedster would earn that spot despite his incredible defense at the position. This is because his showing at the plate last season rendered him nearly unplayable at times. Often, former manager Craig Counsell would pinch hit for Turang late in games.
One of the biggest indicators that Turang’s early success is no fluke is the amount of times he has struck out this season compared to the number of times he has walked. Last season, he struck out 94 times and walked just 38 times.
This season, the much-improved hitter has struck out just 19 times in 37 games and has walked 13 times.
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