2 Brewers surprisingly led all of baseball in this statistic in 2025

There's no denying the Milwaukee Brewers' offense found a unique path to success during their memorable 2025 regular season, when they compiled more wins than any other team in baseball. In an era where power once again reigns supreme, the scrappy Brewers' offense scored the second-most runs in all of the National League without having an offense jam-packed with sluggers.

In 2025, the unique Brewers' offense ranked 22nd in home runs, 25th in hard-hit rate, and dead last in the NL in barrel rate. They also ranked 4th in all of MLB in ground-ball rate, which is generally an indication of an unhealthy offense. And yet, they defied the odds. They put the ball in play, only striking out more frequently than the Miami Marlins in the NL, which, paired with the best batting average on balls in play (BABIP) of any NL squad, constantly gave them traffic on the basepaths. Once on base, they took advantage of the unmatched speed of their roster, swiping more bases than all of their NL counterparts. Then, it was simply a matter of taking advantage of their opportunities with runners on base; the Brewers also set the pace in the NL when it came to batting average with runners in scoring position in 2025.

To recap, while the rest of MLB seemingly tried to pack as much power into their respective lineups as possible, justifying their efforts with arguments that power can cover up an inconsistent offense and plays a large part in postseason success, the Brewers relied on an old-fashioned form of run production in 2025 -- one that emphasized on-base percentage over slugging percentage and "small ball" over light-tower power.

Anchoring this unapologetic Brewers' strategy that led them to the top seed in all of baseball when the postseason rolled around is a group of hitters whose profiles would not necessarily be coveted by most MLB teams. However, given the style of play Milwaukee elects to play, they fit perfectly into the Brewers' offense. Players like Sal Frelick and Caleb Durbin, whose contact rates are among the best in all of baseball, make a living off of putting the ball in play and forcing the defense to make a play, which is made more difficult by the elite speed that both players possess.

The strategy was highly successful for both Frelick and Durbin in 2025, with each player posting an OPS+ above 100, indicating that they were better than the league-average bat. However, for two players whose bread and butter was putting the ball in play and turning would-be outs into base-hits with their legs, Brewers fans might be shocked to learn that Frelick and Durbin led the league in a batted ball category that produces an out nearly 100% of the time.

Caleb Durbin and Sal Frelick led all of MLB in infield fly ball percentage in 2025

According to FanGraphs, among qualified hitters in 2025, Durbin had the highest infield fly ball rate (IFFB%) at 17.9% and right behind him with an IFFB% of 16.9% -- the second highest in all of MLB -- was his teammate, Frelick. Additionally, the fifth highest IFFB% in all of baseball belonged to fellow Brewer Joey Ortiz, but his placement on the list might come as less of a surprise to Brewers fans given how much the second-year shortstop struggled at the plate in 2025.

It's first important to note how IFFB% is calculated. You might assume that the statistic divides the number of infield fly balls a player hits in a given season by the amount of plate appearances they collected or even the amount of batted balls they produced in play throughout the season, but rather the metric simply divides infield fly balls by the total amount of fly balls a player hit throughout the course of the year. Therefore, the metric could certainly be misleading if a player simply didn't hit a lot of fly balls, and kept a disproportionately high percentage of the few fly balls they did produce in the infield. However, that is not the case for either Durbin or Frelick.

Neither player had an especially high fly ball percentage in 2025, which shouldn't surprise Brewers fans, but neither was low enough to make their high IFFB% justifiable. Durbin had a fly ball rate of 38.9% last season and Frelick posted a 34.3% mark. Again, those certainly aren't high fly ball rates, but for reference, Christian Yelich had the lowest fly ball rate of any qualified hitter in 2025 at 24.1%, landing Durbin and Frelick closer to the middle of the pack when it comes to fly ball rate. Therefore, Durbin and Frelick leading the league in IFFB% is no fluke, but rather something each player should absolutely look to improve on in 2026.

An infield pop-up, in nearly every situation, is as unproductive of an out as a strikeout. As a result, the desirability of Durbin and Frelick's ability to avoid striking out is lessened if each of them is simply replacing strikeouts with infield pop-ups. For a team like the Brewers, who love to force opposing defenses to execute difficult plays in order to make an out, the free outs that Durbin and Frelick handed out via infield pop-ups in 2025 are gifts. Look for both of them to improve upon their inflated IFFB% in 2026, which could further improve the success of the Brewers' offense's small-ball approach.