How does Christian Yelich's 2025 season rank among his best of all time

At age 33, Christian Yelich is arguably on pace to have the third best season of his career, with 2018 and 2019 being the top and 2024's being inconclusive due to it ending after 73 games due to a nagging back injury that he elected to have surgically intervened on.

After those, 2016 was his next best statistical season as that year with the Marlins he slashed .298/.376/.483 with 21 home runs and 38 doubles. That year he played in 155 games, collected 172 hits, had an .859 OPS, and walked an outstanding 72 times.

Here, we take a look at why this season has been great for him, some metrics behind his success at the plate, and why 2025 should grade out as better than 2016.

Christian Yelich is on pace to have the third best season of his career

With one month remaining in the regular season, Yelich enters the final stretch slashing .270/.350/.467 with 27 home runs, 92 RBIs, and 15 stolen bases. His 27 homers already rank as the third-highest total of his career, and he's on pace to achieve or surpass that same ranking in RBI's, trailing only his career highs of 110 in 2018, 98 in 2016, and 97 in 2019.

Despite these impressive numbers, Yelich started the year off slow. On May 22, he was hitting for just an 184 batting average and .600 OPS. Since then, he is second in the big leagues in batting average at .319, eighth in on-base percentage at .395, seventh in RBI with 66, and fifth in wRC+ at 163.

Looking further, another reason Yelich has excelled this season is because of his ability to hit breaking and offspeed pitches, an area where he struggled from 2020-2022. During his down seasons, he would frequently hit under .200 against such pitches, but this year he is at .244 while continuing to have success against fastballs, something he has done well throughout his career.

Surprisingly, his ground ball rate in 2025 has risen to 57.6%, higher than in recent seasons. However, he's offsetting that by maintaining a strong barrel rate, allowing him to consistently drive the ball past the infield rather than simply grounding out. The league's shift restrictions have also played a role, giving him a better chance to find holes and turn grounders into hits.

All things considered, if Christian Yelich maintains his current pace, he’s on track to finish 2025 with the third-highest home run and RBI totals of his career. He’s also likely to reach the 30 home run, 20 stolen base mark, a milestone he’s only hit in 2018 and 2019.

Without forcing anything or being overly aggressive, Yelich has quietly stepped up as a steady force in the three- or four-spot in the lineup, helping to fill the power and production void left by Willy Adames. It's been exactly the kind of dependable presence the team has needed this season.