Today’s Sportstat: June 22, 2020
How will the new Brewers players’ debuts match up with other Brew Crew debuts?
When (or if) the 2020 Major League Baseball season begins, the Brewers will have several new players who have never suited up in a Brewers uniform who will likely play important roles for the club. Players like outfielder Avisail Garcia, catcher Omar Narvaez, infielders Justin Smoak and Luis Urias, and pitchers Brett Anderson, Eric Lauer and Josh Lindblom will be making their debut with the Brewers in 2020 (hopefully).
The question: When they do make their debuts, will they start with a bang or a whimper? When compared to other Brewers, will any of these new players have a Brew Crew debut like Carlos Gomez? After coming to the Brewers in a trade with the Twins, Gomez made his Brewers debut on April 5, 2010 with four hits in five at-bats, a solo HR and a stolen base.
Or will any of the pitchers have a debut like Yovani Gallardo? Making his MLB and Brewers debut on June 18, 2007, Gallardo was the starting pitcher and winner in the Brewers 5-4 win over the San Francisco Giants. Gallardo went 6.1 innings and allowed only four hits and struck out four in the victory.
Let’s take a look at some of the Brewers debuts for some of the club’s top players over the years. Baseball-Reference.com on the Brewers’ team page lists the team’s Top 24 players in franchise history based on each players’ WAR rating (WAR stands for Wins Above Replacement). The stat gives a number to each players’ overall contribution to the team. Robin Yount tops the Brewers franchise with a 77.3 WAR, followed by Paul Molitor (60.0) and Ryan Braun is third (46.8).
Here is a snapshot of the top 24 Brewers player’s debut with the team.
Robin Yount, April 5, 1974: 0-for-1, walk
Paul Molitor, April 7, 1978: 1-for-5, one RBI
Ryan Braun, May 25, 2007: 1-for-4, two RBIs
Cecil Cooper, April 7, 1977: 1-for-4
Teddy Higuera, April 23, 1985: 5.1 IP, seven hits, 4 ER, five strikeouts (no decision-starting pitcher)
Don Money, April 6, 1973: 0-for-3
Jeff Cirillo, May 11, 1994: 0-for-0, came in as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning, no at-bat
Ben Sheets, April 5, 2001: 6.0 IP, six hits, 5 ER, five strikeouts (starting pitcher, losing pitcher)
George Scott, April 15, 1972: 0-for-4, one RBI
Jim Gantner, September 3, 1976: 2-for-4, one run scored, one walk
Geoff Jenkins, April 24, 1998: 2-for-4, solo HR, two runs scored
Ben Oglivie, April 8, 1978: 2-for-5, two runs scored, one walk
Carlos Gomez, April 5, 2010: 4-for-5, double, solo HR, two runs scored, stolen base
Sixto Lezcano, September 10, 1974: 3-for-5, one RBI
Chris Bosio, August 3, 1986: 3.0 IP, three hits, one earned run, one strikeout (came in as a reliever, no decision)
Gorman Thomas, April 6, 1973: 1-for-3, triple
Yovani Gallardo, June 18, 2007: 6.1 IP, four hits, 3 ER, 4 strikeouts (Starting pitcher, got the win)
Bill Wegman, September 14, 1985: 7.0 IP, five hits, two earned runs, four strikeouts (starting pitcher, no decision)
Mike Caldwell, June 19, 1977: 2 IP, no hits, one walk, one strikeout (came in as a reliever, no decision)
Jonathan Lucroy, May 21, 2010: 1-for-2
Prince Fielder, June 13, 2005: 0-for-4
Jeromy Burnitz, September 3, 1996: 0-for-4
Moose Haas, September 8, 1976: 3 IP, three hits, one earned run, two strikeouts (came in as a reliever, no decision)
Corey Hart, May 25, 2004: 0-for-1, strikeout
In addition to the above 24 players, the Brewers have five more players who played with the team who are members of baseball’s Hall of Fame (in addition to Yount and Molitor): Rollie Fingers, Hank Aaron, Ted Simmons, Trevor Hoffman and Don Sutton. Their Brewers debuts went as follows:
Rollie Fingers, April 11, 1981: 1.2 IP, two hits, no earned runs, one strikeout, one walk (came in as a reliever, got the save)
Hank Aaron, April 8, 1975: 0-for-3, walk
Ted Simmons, April 11, 1981: 0-for-4, one run scored, one strikeout
Trevor Hoffman, April 27, 2009: one inning pitched, no hits, no earned runs (came in as a reliever, no decision)
Don Sutton, 9 IP, complete game, eight hits allowed, four earned runs, two walks, three strikeouts (starting pitcher, got the loss)
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Today’s Sportstat: May 18, 2020
Opening Day starters for the Brewers
Opening Day for baseball in 2020 is still a mystery. That shouldn’t, however, stop us from looking at some previous Opening Day lineups for the Brewers.
First, did you know that the last time the Brewers had the same player start at first base on Opening Day was all the way back in 2010 and 2011? Prince Fielder was the Opening Day first baseman in those two years for the Brewers; since then, the same player has not started at first in consecutive years.
(In case you were wondering, here are the Opening Day starters at first base for the Brewers since Fielder started at that position in 2010 and 2011: 2012-Mat Gamel, 2013-Alex Gonzalez, 2014-Lyle Overbay, 2015-Adam Lind, 2016-Chris Carter, 2017-Eric Thames, 2018-Ryan Braun, 2019-Jesus Aguilar.)
Here’s a breakdown for the last time a player started on Opening Day at the same position in consecutive seasons for the Brew Crew.
Catcher: Jonathan Lucroy, 2014-15
First Base: Prince Fielder, 2010-11
Second Base: Jonathan Villar, 2017-18
Shortstop: Orlando Arcia, 2018-19
Third Base: Travis Shaw, 2018-19
Left Field: Ryan Braun, 2016-17
Center Field: Lorenzo Cain, 2018-19
Right Field: Domingo Santana, 2017-18
Pitcher: Yovani Gallardo, 2013-14
Secondly, did you know that Jim Gantner has the most Opening Day starts at one position for the Brewers? Gantner was the Opening Day second baseman in 11 seasons. Second on the list is Robin Yount who had 10 Opening Day starts for the Brewers at shortstop. Yount tops the club with the most Opening Days starts at any position with 19 (he made 10 Opening Day starts at shortstop, eight in center field, and one in left field). In his 20-year career, the only year he did not make an Opening Day start for the Brewers was in 1978.
Here are the players with the most Opening Day starts at each position in Brewers history.
Catcher: Jonathan Lucroy and B.J. Surhoff, 5 each
First Base: Cecil Cooper, 9
Second Base: Jim Gantner, 11
Shortstop: Robin Yount, 10
Third Base: Don Money, 7
Left Field: Ryan Braun, 9
Center Field: Robin Yount, 8
Right Field; Sixto Lezcano and Jeromy Burnitz, 5 each
Designated Hitter: Paul Molitor, 4
Starting Pitcher: Ben Sheets, 6
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Today’s Sportstat: May 13, 2019
Brewers run producers in extra-inning games
On the last two Saturdays, the Brewers have played an 18-inning game and a 15-inning game.
It got me thinking about which Brewers hitters in their history have statistically been the best when the game goes into extra inning. I looked at three stats: home runs, RBI and batting average.
Here are the Brewers with the most home runs and RBI in extra-inning games played by the Brew Crew, and the players with the highest batting average in those extra-inning contests.
Most career extra-inning home runs for the Brewers in extra-inning games
5-Robin Yount, Geoff Jenkins
4-Prince Fielder, Gorman Thomas, Bill Hall
3-Ben Oglivie, Jonathan Lucroy, Ryan Braun, Dave May, Rob Deer, Greg Vaughn
Most career Runs Batted In for the Brewers in extra-inning games
20-Robin Yount
17-B.J. Surhoff
15: Ryan Braun, Gorman Thomas
14-Jim Gantner
12-John Jaha
11-Geoff Jenkins, Jeromy Burnitz
10-Ben Oglivie, Ted Simmons
Highest career batting average for the Brewers in extra-inning games
(Minimum of 25 plate appearances in extra-inning games with Brewers)
.464 Tommy Harper
.448 Jose Hernandez
.440 Casey McGehee
.419 Darryl Hamilton
.382 J.J. Hardy
.368 Fernando Vina
.355 Rick Manning
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Today’s Sportstat: February 11, 2019
Players with the most games in a Brewers uniform
Let’s start with a quick quiz:
There have been 12 players who have played in 1,000 or more games with the Brewers. Can you name them? (The answer will appear towards the bottom of this article… don’t cheat; try to name the 12 before you continue reading the rest of this article.)
Before we get to the 12, did you know that Prince Fielder fell just two games short of having played in 1,000 games with the Milwaukee Brewers? Fielder ended his career with the Brewers with 998 games played. He is one of four players who played in 900 games with the team but fell short of the 1,000-game milestone. The four:
Prince Fielder, 998 games with the Brewers
Jeff Cirillo, 978 games with the Brewers
Corey Hart, 945 games with the Brewers
Greg Vaughn, 903 games with the Brewers.
As you might expect, there are no pitchers on the list of the players with 1,000 or more games in a Brewers uniform. There are, however, four pitchers who appeared in 300 or more games with the Brewers: Dan Plesac (365), Jim Slaton (364), Bob McClure (352) and Chuck Crim (332).
Current Brewers reliever Jerremy Jeffress is the active pitcher with the most games with the team, 253. That puts him in a tie for 11th place with Bill Wegman on the all-time list for most appearances by a Brewers pitcher.
Ryan Braun is the active player on the Brewers roster who has played in the most games for the team. He ranks fourth on the all-time list with 1,583 games played for the Brew Crew. Do you know which player on the current roster is second in this category with 481 games played with the Brewers? (Answer at the bottom of the article.)
As you might expect, Robin Yount tops the list with 2,856 games played for the Brewers. Following are the 12 played who have played in 1,000 or more games in a Brewers uniform.
Robin Yount, 2,856
Paul Molitor, 1,856
Jim Gantner, 1,801
Ryan Braun, 1,583
Cecil Cooper, 1,490
Charlie Moore, 1,283
Geoff Jenkins, 1,234
Don Money, 1,196
Ben Oglivie, 1,149
Rickie Weeks, 1,142
Gorman Thomas, 1,103
B.J. Surhoff, 1,102
Hernan Perez ranks second behind Braun in most games played by an active Brewers player; he has appeared in 481 games with the team.
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Today’s Sports Stat: August 9, 2018
Could Christian Yelich become the first league batting champion in Milwaukee Brewers history?
Yelich is batting .319, placing him second in the National League behind Atlanta Braves outfielder Nick Markakis, who in leading the N.L. with a .323 average.
Since 1969 when the Brewers became a MLB franchise (as the Seattle Pilots), the team has had 16 players finish in the top five of league batting average. The last Brewer player to finish in the top five was in 2012 when Ryan Braun batted .319 to finish third in the N.L. batting race.
Here’s a look at the Milwaukee Brewers who finished in the top five in league batting average since 1969.
2012: Ryan Braun, .319 (3rd)
2011: Ryan Braun, .332, (2nd)
1999: Jeff Cirillo, .326 (5th)
1992: Paul Molitor, .320 (4th)
1991: Willie Randolph, .327 (3rd) and Paul Molitor, .325 (5th)
1989: Robin Yount, .318 (4th)
1988: Paul Molitor, .312 (5th)
1987: Paul Molitor, .353 (2nd)
1982: Robin Yount, .331(2nd) and Cecil Cooper, .313 (5th)
1981: Cecil Cooper, .320 (4th)
1980: Cecil Cooper, .352 (2nd)
1978: Ben Oglivie, .303 (5th)
1973: George Scott, .306 (2nd) and Dave May, .303 (5th)
Lorenzo Cain is sitting tied for 10th place in the N.L. batting race with a .298 average. The last time the Brewers had a pair of players in the top 10 was in 1991 when Randolph finished third and Molitor was fifth. Two or more Brewers finished in the top 10 in eight seasons (1991, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1983, 1982, 1979 and 1973). Three Brewers finished in the Top 10 in 1982… in addition to Yount and Cooper finishing second and fifth respectively, Molitor finished 10th that season.
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