Brewers: Four Milwaukee Players’ Christmas Wish Lists

With Christmas of 2020 right around the corner, here’s what these Milwaukee Brewers players are wishing for this holiday season.

Christmas is just nine days away and many Brewers fans and players, kids and adults alike, will be waiting to see what’s waiting for them under the tree and in their stockings. If they filled out their wish lists right, they’ll find just what they were hoping for.

Assuming that Brewers players Christian Yelich, Daniel Vogelbach, Devin Williams and Brandon Woodruff are all on the nice list this year, I’m sure there are a few things that they are hoping to find under the tree come December 25th.

One thing that I’m fairly certain they’re all wishing for is to see you at American Family Field this coming season (whenever that may be). It was a truly different atmosphere for Brewer home games last year and the fans were sorely missed in Milwaukee and across all of baseball.

Sure there are things that we as Brewers fans want: to watch one more clutch Ryan Braun for old times’ sake, a stud first baseman of the future, Christian Yelich to get back to his MVP form in 2021, Brent Suter and Tim Dillard to create more shenanigans, the list goes on. But have we ever asked what some players might want (hypothetically)?

In this article, I’ll be doing a deeper dive into what makes these guys listed above successful and what they hope to see more of come 2021. I’ll even throw in some “stocking stuffers” as well, a hidden stat that makes them tick, or something that might even appeal to their sweet tooth.

So sit back, warm up some hot cocoa, maybe even throw on some Christmas carols and enjoy my take what these guys asked Santa for this year.

Christian Yelich

This year wasn’t the best year for Yelich, let’s be realistic. But this doesn’t mean that he wasn’t on the nice list. The number one thing that Christian Yelich wants for Christmas this year is a 20-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals to start the season. Realistic? No. Interesting? Absolutely. Here’s why: Yelich DOMINATES Cardinals pitching and he notoriously starts off the season slower than he finishes it.

First, his success against the St. Louis. I’m sure it won’t take too much to convince you because you’ve seen him crushing Cardinals pitching in his last three years for Milwaukee, but the stats are there to back it up. Out of all 30 MLB teams, Yelich has his most runs batted in (50) and home runs (19) against the Redbirds.

You might say, “Oh well that’s because he probably has played against them the most or is right up there for the most.”. Interestingly enough, he’s played in 63 games against St. Louis, which ranks at 8th most in his career, with the most against the Braves with 94 against Atlanta.

Some more career numbers against the Cardinals are a batting average of .302, an on-base percentage of .417, a slugging percentage of .618 and 68 hits. All of these stats rank in his top 10 against teams that he’s gone against in his eight years in the MLB.

Okay so he’s really good against St. Louis, but does he really struggle at the beginning of the season? By Christian Yelich’s standards? I suppose. In the first half of his eight year career, his average is about .20 points lower and he has less hits, runs batted in, lower on-base percentage and more strikeouts than the latter half of the season.

Specifically, May is the anomaly. For some reason, Yelich’s average is .259 which isn’t all that bad, but the crazy part is that all the other months, the next lowest average is .294 in August.

Stocking stuffers: Hitting 2nd in the lineup, a first pitch meatball from a fly ball pitcher, Hershey’s Kisses

Daniel Vogelbach

All Daniel Vogelbach wants for Christmas is the DH to stay in the NL. Please Santa, pull some strings because Rob Manfred should be on the naughty list this year. Vogelbach will unfortunately never be a candidate for a gold glove at any position on the diamond, but he proved to be a valuable asset to a Brewers offense that didn’t have many in 2020.

It would be a luxury to have him coming off the bench as a pinch hitter during the late stages in a big spot, but he’s proved he can be so much more than that in his stint with the Brewers dating back to his 2019 season in Seattle when he was an All-Star.

Let’s take a look at Vogey’s numbers with the Brewers in 2020. While he only had 67 plate appearances, he was second on the team in batting average (.328) behind Lorenzo Cain (.333) who only played in five games.

So, big deal. The guy barely played for the Brewers and had success. And you’re absolutely right, but that’s the beauty of all of this.

Vogelbach started 2020 in Seattle after a breakout 2019 campaign. With the Mariners, he went 5-64 at the plate for an average of .094 so he was designated for assignment. The Blue Jays were the next team to take a chance on him and his struggles continued. He went 0-4 with a walk and Toronto let him go as well. So him just turning it all around with the Brewers in such a short time makes what he did that much more impressive.

It’s hard to say if the players, owners, and MLB will come to an agreement before the start of the season but the players in the NL are all for it. It opens up 15 more jobs for hitters across the league and realistically it allows for more excitement and runs. The Brewers would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the universal DH and that is the biggest thing Daniel Vogelbach wants for Christmas.

Stocking stuffers: Matchups with right handed pitchers, a 2021 calendar with just the months of September and October, Milk Chocolate Santas

Devin Williams

The reigning NL Reliever of the Year doesn’t want much for Christmas this year, but one thing he does want is a RECOUNT FOR THE 2020 ALL- MLB FIRST TEAM VOTES. Everybody that voted to give Williams second team can expect coal in their stockings. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.

To be honest, I just wanted an excuse to reiterate how dominant Williams was in 2020, while spreading some Christmas cheer. Let’s take a look at his magnificent year. First, let’s look at his accolades: NL Rookie of the Year, the team’s third straight NL Reliever of the Year, a vote in the NL MVP race and 7th in NL Cy Young voting as the only reliever on that list of phenomenal pitchers. He was simply on a different level.

Now the stats, where should we start? Maybe at the 0.33 ERA? Williams allowed four runs in 100 plate appearances for opposing hitters. He allowed eight total hits last season and only three extra base hits. Batters had a miniscule batting average of .090 when stepping into the box against the star reliever and a slugging percentage of .157. Professional hitters were struggling to hit the sweet spot when facing him.

And typically left-handed hitters will tend to succeed against right handed pitchers in the MLB, but that was far from the case against Williams. When facing lefties, (which he almost did twice as often) their average was .075. Yeah, you might need a magnifying glass for that number.

All in all, we could rattle off the disgusting numbers that #38 for the Brewers produced last season all day long. He basically outdid the two candidates that were chosen in front him in every major category, but it’s over and done with. Milwaukee fans should be ecstatic to see what Devin Williams can do for years to come and that’s the moral of the story. But media and fans that snubbed him out of first team, you’re still on the naughty list.

Stocking stuffers: Another mph or two on his fastball, leads when he enters in the 8th inning, Peppermint Bark