Brewers' unpopular platoon role for Andrew Vaughn may not be ideal for postseason

With the No. 1 seed locked up and 101 wins in the bag, the final weekend of the regular season is all about planning ahead for the Milwaukee Brewers. With a first-round bye awaiting them, these final two games against the St. Louis Cardinals should be used to get everyone on the roster some positive momentum heading into the postseason.

Unfortunately, those plans hit a snag on Friday, as Andrew Vaughn hit the injured list with an illness. It isn't expected to be a long-term issue -- his retroactive date for IL placement is September 22, meaning he has plenty of wiggle room to be activated ahead of the NLDS -- but it does eliminate the possibility of getting him some reps against right-handed pitchers prior to the playoffs.

You see, Vaughn has settled into something of a platoon role recently, with his two most recent starts coming against southpaws (Trevor Rogers and Cade Povich). Prior to that, he also started four consecutive games from September 7-11, three of which involved the opposing team starting a left-handed pitcher.

In total, he's received 23 plate appearances against lefties this month compared to just 16 against righties. Though the reasoning behind that is obvious -- his wRC+ against southpaws this season is 160, compared to 117 without the handedness advantage -- is it really the best use of his skills?

Brewers may have to make tough calls to get Andrew Vaughn into their postseason lineup against righties

Among all Brewers players with at least 100 plate appearances against right-handed pitchers in 2026, Vaughn's wRC+ ranks fourth, and his OPS (.764) ranks fifth. Those marks are ahead of left-handed hitters such as Christian Yelich and Sal Frelick, as well as switch-hitter Luis Lara.

What I'm getting at here is that keeping Vaughn in a platoon capacity is hamstringing the offense. It's not like the Crew have needed help scoring runs recently -- they rank second in the league with 263 runs since Aug. 1 -- but the postseason is about winning every possible matchup that you can. Against the best pitching in the world, huge offensive outbursts won't be quite as common in October as they've been over the past two months.

Now, Vaughn isn't starting over Lara or Frelick in the outfield due to his defensive limitations, but there's something to be said for inserting him into the lineup at DH over Yelich every now and then. The biggest question, perhaps, is whether or not Jake Bauers (who has a 142 wRC+ against righties this year) can play the outfield in October. Bauers has been limited by shin splints over the last few weeks and has just one start in right field since September 4th as a result. If Bauers can play right field in the postseason, then Vaughn can take first base, and Yelich can remain in the lineup as the DH. Otherwise, things get a little complicated.

Of course, taking out a former MVP to start Vaughn would require incredible courage to make, which is why I'm glad it's ultimately up to Pat Murphy and not me. But if the Brewers find runs at a premium in the postseason, they may have to consider giving both of their first basemen more opportunities regardless of who is on the mound.

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