Brewers' manager Pat Murphy explains decision to change Christian Yelich's spot in the batting order

After turning in a resurgent performance in the last three seasons, during which he posted an .856 OPS and averaged nearly 20 homers per year, Milwaukee Brewers' veteran leader Christian Yelich is in the midst of a disappointing 2026 campaign. The 34-year-old Yelich, who missed a month in the early part of the season due to an adductor (groin) strain, holds a .234 batting average, a .696 OPS, and a 92 wRC+ that suggests he's been 8% worse than a league-average hitter this year. In 75 games this year, Yeli has just seven homers and 37 RBI to his name.

A notoriously streaky hitter, who, when his timing is on, still shows a clear ability to impact the game at the plate, Yelich was maintaining an . 826 OPS before landing on the IL. However, since returning to the Brewers' lineup back on May 12, he has just a .669 OPS with a brutal .217 batting average and a concerning 27.1% strikeout rate. It's been especially rough for Yelich during his last seven games, during which he's slashing just .148/.226/.185.

Despite Yelich's prolonged slump at the plate, the veteran DH was still consistently occupying one of the top four spots in Pat Murphy's batting order. With Yelich's hot streaks often seemingly coming out of nowhere, and his track record of success, the decision to keep him near the top of the lineup, despite his poor numbers, was, to some extent, justified.

However, ahead of Tuesday evening's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Murphy made the decision to drop Yelich down to the seventh spot in the lineup, but after Jake Bauers was scratched from the lineup with abdominal soreness, Yeli is now up to the fifth spot in tonight's batting order.

Christian Yelich drops down to the fifth spot in the Brewers' batting order amid prolonged struggles at the plate

"There comes a point where you want something to change, you want something to spark, you want a little different direction,” said Murphy about the change, which seemed more drastic before Bauers' scratch. The Brewers' manager made clear that it was his decision alone to change Yeli's spot in the lineup, saying, “I didn’t ask him if it was okay…I didn’t ask anyone. I just said ‘this is what we’re doing. This is what’s best for the team.’”

While the intention was simply to make the team better, the change could be taken hardly by a player of Yelich's caliber who has the track record that he does, but the Brewers' veteran reportedly took the news very well. Said Murphy on Yelich's response to the change, "Yeli’s a pro, man. He’s our leader, he’s a pro…Let me make this statement clearly: No one cares more about getting right and about the Milwaukee Brewers upholding their standards that they have created for themselves.”

Yelich unsurprisingly has high expectations for himself, higher, according to Murphy, than the external expectations that have been placed on the former MVP. Those types of standards almost inevitably create an internal pressure that only increases when things aren't going right. Moving down in the lineup should alleviate some of the pressure Yelich is currently experiencing and free him up to focus on his timing and rediscovering his form at the plate.

Whereas many players in Yelich's position would view the change as a punishment, the Brewers' veteran leader appears to be seeing it as an opportunity and a necessary one at that. If Milwaukee wants to make some noise in the postseason, they need their leader to be right, and this lineup change could be the first step towards making that happen.

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