Brewers: 2021 Report Card Grades for the Crew’s Outfield

Prior to the start of the 2021 season, expectation were very high for the Brewers outfield group.

Christian Yelich was coming off a disappointing 2020 season and there was a lot of hope that a ‘normal’ season would help him find his MVP form again. Lorenzo Cain was returning after opting out of the 2020 season and Avisail Garcia was also coming off a less than impressive first season with the Crew.

A late off-season signing of Jackie Bradley Jr created a log jam at the position and left most wondering how playing time would get split. Things got stickier when you had to consider that both Billy McKinney and Tyrone Taylor would both be thrown into the mix as well.

However, early in the season the depth of this group appeared to be paying dividends. Both Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain each had two separate stints on the IL due to injuries and missed substantial amounts of playing time. McKinney initially benefited the most from this, but by the end of May he was designated for assignment and traded to the Mets for a prospect.

This left the door open for Tyrone Taylor to get a good dose of playing time throughout the season. Jackie Bradley Jr also manned center field a vast majority of the time while Lorenzo Cain was out.  By the time Yelich and Cain both got healthy, this left five main outfielders that the Brewers relied upon this season.

In this article, we will give a report card grade on each of these Brewers  outfielders’ seasons.

1) Avisail Garcia

Following a disappointing 2020 season, the first month of the season was rough for Avisail Garcia as he slashed just .195/.280/.329/.609, but then he managed to turn it around. At times after that, Garcia showed the ability to be the anchor in the Brewers lineup. He was the team’s cleanup hitter for quite some time and was one of the league’s most productive outfielders in the month of May.

Throughout the remainder of the season, Garcia would go through many hot and cold stretches.  One impressive stat line is that during the month of July he had a batting average of .354 and OPS of .930 while contributing 17 RBIs. To end the year though, he hit just .211 in September/October.  He also was not playing consistently at that time due to injury/load management.

There were plenty of highs and lows for Garcia in 2021. Two clutch moments worth mentioning include a game tying single early in the year with two outs against the Dodgers that set up an eventual Travis Shaw walk off hit. He also had an incredible over the wall grab against the Reds to preserve a 2-0 lead.  The biggest low was when he miss played a fly ball against the Giants.  The mistake gave the Giants new life and they eventually won that game.

After all was said and done, Garcia set new career highs in home runs (29), RBI’s (86), and base on balls (38).  A statistical season like 2021 could not have come at a better time for Garcia.  He now has a $12MM mutual option for the 2022 season and gets a say in electing free agency or not.

Final 2021 Season Grade: A-

4) Tyrone Taylor

Let’s start with the good surprise.  After getting very small samples of big league playing time in 2019 and 2020, Taylor put together a solid 2021 rookie season. He appeared in 93 games, received 271 at bats, hit 12 home runs, drove in 43 runs, and posted a 106 OPS+.

He entered the season having improved physically and put on near 15lbs of muscle. After hitting 20 home runs in the minor leagues in 2018 and 14 in 2019, he was ready to show that his game could translate to the major league level. That being said, perhaps one of his more memorable offensive games was his multi home run game against the Cardinals, that included a grand slam.

Taylor was also solid defensively, too. While he did not make the highlight reel as often as teammates Lorenzo Cain and Jackie Bradley Jr, Taylor displayed great range and the ability to make diving plays. Fangraphs had his final total at 7 defensive runs saved in 2021.

Going forward, it would appear that at worst Taylor will serve as a backup OF, but it sure would be interesting to see what he could do in a full season of regular playing time.

Final 2021 season grade: B+

5) Jackie Bradley Jr

In his first year with the Brewers, most are going to remember how terrible Bradley Jr was offensively. He finished with a .163 batting average and a 34 OPS+, making it extremely difficult to justify inserting him in the lineup.

With the Boston Red Sox, Bradley Jr did not have eye popping numbers offensively.  However, one big difference is that he did have the opportunity to play near every day from 2016-2020, which was a drastic change when he joined the Brewers this year.  Baseball players are creatures of habit, so perhaps there is an element of establishing a rhythm here that contributed to his inability to consistently hit well at the plate.

Despite the offensive struggles, JBJ was still an elite defender in the outfield. He had multiple home run robberies with perhaps his most impressive one coming against Ozzie Albies in which he displayed impressive hang time on the wall!  He also was a wizard at fooling defenders into thinking baseballs were leaving the park when they really were not.

Despite what is going to be remembered as forgettable season by many fans, Bradley Jr was nominated as a finalist for the Gold Glove award. Given how strong of a defender he is, it is hard to give him a failing grade for the 2021 season, but his offense was bad enough that his grade is as close to that as it gets.

2021 Season Final Grade: D-

As a unit, the Brewers outfield group did not meet expectations. With a vast majority of the team’s payroll invested in these players, offensive production has to be better in 2022.

David Stearns placed a big emphasis on run prevention in 2021, but after an early exit in the post season including getting shut out in back to back games, a happy medium must be established.