Brewers Report Cards: Player Grades At The Half-Way Point

We’ve reached the mid-way point of the season. 81 games are in the books with 81 more to go in the regular season. How have the Brewers players performed? Let’s look at their report cards.

The Brewers hit the halfway point of the season with a 48-33 record and a six game lead in the NL Central over the Chicago Cubs. They’ve won eight straight games.

This season so far has been filled with a lot of ups and downs both for the team and for individual players. What grades do the Brewers players deserve for their first half performance?

Brewers Outfield Grades

Christian Yelich: B-

Christian Yelich missed over a month with a back injury. That certainly set back the Brewers offense in the early going of the year.

Since returning, Yelich has been slow to get back to the hitter that he was in 2018 and 2019. His .255/.411/.409 slash line isn’t horrible, and he’s still drawing plenty of walks and is still a feared hitter. But his batting average is lower than normal and his power hasn’t been there as much either, with just five home runs at this point in the season. Sure he’s only played in 47 games, but he played in 58 games last year and hit 12 home runs.

Yelich is starting to get back to his normal self, but it’s not been an immediate flip of the switch to his MVP form.

In 2018 he was putting up good, but not spectacular numbers in the first half before exploding in the second half of the season for an MVP award. Hopefully that happens again, but for now Yelich gets a B-minus.

Avisail Garcia: B

Avisail Garcia is the Brewers home run leader with 15 so far this season. He’s looked a lot better than he did in 2020, but his slash line still isn’t spectacular. He’s hitting .239/.307/.443 on the year.

Garcia has been hot and cold, going on a couple big hot streaks followed by a longer cold stretch, and he’s in a cold stretch right now.

He’s been better than last year, and he’s supplying the power, but in order to get an A, he’d need to be more consistent at the plate.

Jackie Bradley Jr: F

There’s no way around it. No amount of defensive prowess can improve Jackie Bradley Jr’s grade for the first half of the season. Yes, he’s providing solid defense with a strong throwing arm, but he’s certainly not been worth the contract he signed.

Bradley’s slash line of .159/.240/.274 is abysmal. He’s been known to be a slow starter, and he’s been known to be streaky, but he has not had a single hot streak all season long. At this point it’s beyond a slow start. We’re halfway through the season, it’s just a slow year for him.

Bradley has had poor luck, with a .217 BABIP, but his strikeout rate of 31.9% is a career high for him by far.

Lorenzo Cain: D

When he’s been healthy, Lorenzo Cain has been a somewhat decent contributor this year. He’s hitting over his weight at least, with a .223 average and a .672 OPS. He hasn’t provided the production that was expected of him at the plate, but he’s had strong defense as usual when out there, but that isn’t helping his grade too much.

Cain’s dealt with a couple of leg injuries this year that have kept him out of the lineup. Cain was looking to rebound after a tough 2019 season and an opt-out in 2020, but he just hasn’t been able to get going after dealing with constant injuries. Cain has just 103 plate appearances on the year.

Brewers Starting Rotation Grades

Brandon Woodruff: A+

Through 101 IP in the first half, Brandon Woodruff has a 1.87 ERA with 119 strikeouts and just 24 walks allowed. His 0.78 WHIP is lowest in the league.

Woodruff is clearly a Cy Young candidate and is pitching like the ace we know he can be. He was the Crew’s Opening Day starter for a reason and is in line for an All-Star appearance once again.

Corbin Burnes: A+

Matching Woodruff’s excellence is Corbin Burnes. He’s pitched to a 2.53 ERA this year in 74.2 IP with 115 strikeouts and only 14 walks allowed. He’s had a few “rough” starts his last couple times out, which has “spiked” his ERA to over 2.50, but he’s still been excellent overall.

Burnes made history several times over this year, including breaking the record for most strikeouts to begin a season before allowing a walk with 58 Ks before that first walk. He also should be an All Star and a Cy Young candidate.

Adrian Houser: B

Adrian Houser has been serviceable this year, posting a 4.16 ERA in the first half over 75.2 IP. He doesn’t strike out as many guys and pitches to contact, but has been burned by that on occasion.

Houser has been healthy and making his starts, never really having any blow up performances. He’s kept the Brewers in games for the most part, and that’s all you can really ask.

Brett Anderson: C

Brett Anderson has been about what’s expected of him. His 4.69 ERA is around his career average, and he’s doing what he was signed to do: eat innings and get ground balls. His ERA is slightly higher than normal, but that’s been from a few bad games that went very short. He’s left two starts early after giving up a bunch of runs with an injury.

He’s on the IL currently, but should be back soon.

Freddy Peralta: A+

Peralta has formed a Big 3 in the rotation with Woodruff and Burnes. Peralta’s 2.17 ERA is second-best in the Brewers rotation. In 87 IP, Peralta has 122 strikeouts and has walked 37.

Peralta has allowed just 39 hits, and his 4.0 H/9 is best in baseball among qualified pitchers. His 12.6 K/9 is also best in the National League.

Despite being the “5th starter” and just making the rotation over Josh Lindblom to start the season, Peralta has been excellent and has surpassed all expectations.

Brewers Bullpen Grades

Josh Hader: A+

When you’re a perfect 20-for-20 in save opportunities and hold a 0.55 ERA in 32.2 IP, you’re going to get an “A+” on your report card.

Josh Hader has been lights out. His velocity has been strong, he’s occasionally thrown in a changeup to the mix, and he has stopped allowing the long ball.

Hader hasn’t gone multiple innings in an outing all year, and although that’s frustrated some fans who are used to it, it’s hard to argue with the results. He’s been fresh more often and has been able to pitch more often, and that’s a good thing.

Devin Williams: B

Fresh of a 2020 Rookie of the Year campaign in which he posted a miniscule 0.33 ERA, Devin Williams has fallen back to earth a little bit. His 3.26 ERA isn’t bad, but he has a 5.9 BB/9 and his command hasn’t been as strong as it was last year.

His outings have been more stressful than fun this year, so he gets a B for the first half.

Brent Suter: B

Suter is filling his role as the multi-inning reliever and lefty specialist and doing it about as expected. He has a 3.46 ERA, which isn’t fantastic, but nothing to complain about either. He’s had some tough outings in key moments, but overall has been solid.

Brad Boxberger: B

Again, a solid veteran arm who has had a few rough outings but overall has been solid and has come up clutch in some key moments. Boxberger is sort of filling the 7th inning role after the trade of J.P. Feyereisen. His closer’s experience has helped him get three saves in games where Hader was unavailable.

Trevor Richards: B

His first few outings went poorly, and he was on track for a poor grade, but Richards has turned things around lately. He had a clutch outing to get out of a bases loaded jam with no outs to preserve a lead for Corbin Burnes and since then has done well.

His 3.71 ERA with the Brewers is decent, but if you exclude his first three outings where he had two blown leads, Richards has a 2.19 ERA with Milwaukee. He also had a streak of eight straight scoreless outings.

Eric Lauer: B-

When Lauer has started against NL West teams, he’s been excellent. When he’s pitched against nearly anyone else, not so much. Lauer’s 4.50 ERA in 44 innings indicates he hasn’t been stellar overall although it’s in line with the numbers he posted in San Diego.

He’s had some really good starts against the Dodgers, Padres, and Rockies, but has been roughed up in plenty of other ones. So he gets a B- for the first half.

There were plenty more players who had opportunities this year, but there’s no way to grade all 51 who have donned the Brewers uniform in the first half of the season. Hopefully some of these guys can keep up their high grades in the second half and some can improve their grade over the final three months.