Brewers hitters set to take advantage of the Coors Effect once again

Just ten games into the season, and the sky has already fallen and risen again, just in time for the Milwaukee Brewers to travel one mile closer to it for their three-game set with the Colorado Rockies. The Brewers are hoping to scratch out a few wins against the 2-7 Rockies, but that might be easier said than done. Despite the Rockies having an overall record of 361-517 (0.411 W-L%) since the start of the 2019 season, they have fared very well against the Brewers, especially when facing them at Coors Field. The Brewers are just 5-12 when playing in Colorado over the past six seasons, getting swept by the Rockies in both 2019 and 2023.

Some of this lack of success can be attributed to the uniqueness of playing baseball in Colorado. While the extent to which the “Coors Effect” actually affects gameplay is constantly disputed, there is no doubt that pitchers generate less movement and the ball travels farther off the bat when playing nearly a mile above sea level. As a result, the ballpark tends to be a sluggers paradise, with many players having much better offensive numbers at Coors Field compared to other ballparks. However, players with less experience playing in elevation tend to struggle, seemingly giving the Rockies an advantage when playing at home against younger teams.

Despite Brewers' lack of team success at Coors Field, individual hitters have been productive

Thanks to FanGraphs' splits tool, finding data on how each of the current 13 Brewers position players have performed at Coors Field is relatively easy. The numbers show a necessity for experience when hitting in elevation as many of the veterans on the team have performed better than the second or third year players. The following table shows the career numbers for the Brewers' active position player group when playing in Colorado.

Rhys Hoskins and Christian Yelich obviously have the most experience playing at Coors Field and each of them has had success in the thin air. Yelich has collected 13 extra-base hits in his 136 at-bats in the Rockies' ballpark, while Hoskins' numbers are carried by a single series back in 2021 in which he hit three homers in three games. Brice Turang, who enters Tuesday night's game on a 10-game hitting streak, has also played well in Denver, slashing three doubles in just seven games.

With Yelich, Hoskins, Turang, William Contreras, and Jackson Chourio all sporting career slugging percentages at Coors Field over .400, there's reason to be excited about the Brewers' next three games. However, the Crew will face Colorado's top three starting pitchers in Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela, and Ryan Feltner, who are all off to excellent starts, posting ERAs of 2.13, 0.00, and 3.60, respectively.