Brewers: Did The Team Struggle With Runners in Scoring Position?

Throughout the 2022 season, one of the Brewers biggest issues was with situational hitting. Especially late in the season, it seemed the Brewers continuously failed to bring runners in to score after putting them on, but was that the case? Did the team actually struggle with runners in scoring position?

It seemed like the Brewers struggled to bring runners in to score after getting in scoring position. Was that the actual case?

How did the Brewers Offense Perform?

With RISP in Innings 1-9

.281.8453     .358   3    133May 55 for 212

.259.8167     .350   6    126June40 for 183

.219.71517     .311  16    99July  53 for 192

.276.9301     .387   2    154August  35 for 165

.212.65524     .29024    85   September  53 for 236

.225.7748     .331  10    114

When looking at how the team performed with runners in scoring position, it’s easy to spot months they excelled, and months they struggled; however, for the most part the Brewers were well above league average, with the sole outliers being June and August, when they were in the bottom half of the league in both OPS and wOBA, which is a measure of offensive value.

The Brewers as a whole actually performed well with runners in scoring position. While there were plenty of times the Brewers came up short, but as a whole the team performed well relative to the rest of the league.

Bases Empty

.206.62817     .28118    79May132 for 563

.234.7444     .327 4    110June133 for 502

.265.7627     .336  5    117July120 for 457

.263.7605    .335  4    116August117 for 529

.213.66019     .294 19    88September134 for 615

.219.65322     .289   23    85

With the bases empty, the Brewers were above average for three months, and below average for three months. When the Brewers were below average, they were very below, and it was particularly apparent in the final two month of the season when the team was in most need of wins to keep the postseason hopes alive.

When the team struggled with the bases empty, and although they did not struggle with runners in scoring position the final two months, it was too little too late, as they were not able to make it to the postseason.

What does this mean?

Ultimately, the Brewers fell short of their goal of making the postseason, and there were stretches in series where the team could seldom find a hit, with runners on base or not. Despite that, on the whole, the Brewers were actually quite good with Runners in Scoring Position, and an improvement from last season, though ultimately not good enough to make the postseason.

In August, the month in which the Brewers struggled the most with RISP, 49% of the pitches they saw with RISP were the strike zone, which was the highest all season.

There has to be something done about the final two months of the season, which the Brewers had below average offensive output, putting up a team 98 wRC+ from August until the end of the season. The offense struggled down the stretch, and was not able to compensate for the bullpen’s struggles.

While it is easy to point to week-long stretches of struggles, it is not accurate to say the Brewers struggled to bring home runners once runners reached second base.

There ought to be discussions about how the team can normalize the performance so there are not series where the it seems like the team is unable to find a hit, or unable to bring home runners. There also ought to be discussions about offensive consistency as a whole as the Brewers retool and build towards next season’s World Series Championship.