Jackson Chourio's patience in walk-off at-bat signifies Brewers stars' impressive development

It is hard not to be impressed with Jackson Chourio, especially coming off his game-winning base hit off one of the best closers in baseball. Since joining the team in 2024, Chourio has already been incredibly clutch in the postseason.

In his rookie campaign, he hit two homers against the Mets in that ill-fated series. A year later, he hit one in each postseason series the Brewers played -- a three-run shot against the Chicago Cubs in the NLDS and a leadoff homer in Game 2 of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Chourio's leadoff long ball against the Dodgers was the only one that the Brewers hit in the series. In Game 1 of this year's NLDS against the San Diego Padres, the 22-year-old in just his third season, hit his third game-tying postseason home run -- a two-run shot, that gave him sole possession of Milwaukee's all-time postseason home run record.

It took Chourio just 14 postseason contests to set the franchise record, and he's already closing in on Andruw Jones' record for the most postseason RBI before turning 23. Chourio, who is just two shy of Jones' record despite playing 31 fewer postseason games than the Atlanta Braves legend, has already shown impressive poise and maturity as a baseball player when the lights are brightest. At no greater moment were these two learned traits on display than Chourio's walk-off hit on Sunday evening.

Chourio's discipline at the plate is improving, and it's yielding big results

Jackson Chourio is a free-swinger at the plate, that much will likely (and hopefully) never change. His elite bat speed allows him to swing often as he has the ability to fight off nearly every reasonably located pitch, but Chourio still sports a below-league-average chase rate. That said, after seeing his chase rate spike in 2025 (37%), Chourio has made some necessary strides this year to bring that number down to a more sustainable 33.9% this year. He's swinging less often altogether, but that includes at pitches outside of the zone.

That improved patience was certainly on display on Sunday evening against Miller. After swinging at an in-zone four-seamer to start the at-bat, Chourio laid off a key fastball that missed just off the plate. Then he swung through a fastball that was middle-middle at 102, which left the Brewers down to their final strike of the afternoon. Miller tried to work the next pitch away, which Chourio was just able to foul off, but the virtual strike zone showed the pitch was clearly in the zone.

On the next pitch, Chourio laid off Miller's deadly slider, which went from a strike to a ball below the zone. Then Miller left another fastball over the plate, Chourio didn't miss this one, and the rest is history. After the game, Chourio's teammate Jake Bauers told the media, "I'm going to remember the slider take with two strikes, after fouling back the 103 mph or whatever it was. I think after that, I was pretty sure that he was going to do something special, you don't see guys take pitches like that very often, and just the confidence you could tell he had in the box was, for lack of better words, it was pretty inspiring."

One eagle-eyed viewer noticed that Mason Miller might have been tipping pitches, thanks to an incredible angle from behind the plate that made the rounds on social media Monday afternoon. The video, which you can see below, shows Sal Frelick going to his neck on the 1-2 slider just before the walk-off. Both teams have since downplayed the situation, but I will let you be the judge.

Whether or not this occurred, and it would be perfectly legal and within the scope of the game, you still have mere milliseconds to decide if Frelick is right, and if it is a strike or a ball. Personally, I think it was just a coincidence, but regardless, it doesn't take away from Chourio's incredible at-bat and his ability to make contact, let alone collect a base hit, off Miller's unicorn fastball.

It shouldn't be lost on anyone how big of a spot that was for Chourio, and his ability to not dwell on his earlier at-bats was key. "Jack Jack," as both Pat Murphy and fans have called him, came into that spot having gone 0-3 to that point in the game, including an inning-ending ground out in the seventh that ended a rally with both the game-tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position.

The 22-year-old that many consider one of the faces of the franchise could have easily let the moment eat him up. Instead, he battled, when the lights were brightest, in the biggest moment of the game, against one of the best relief pitchers in all of baseball. He was cool, calm, and collected, and it brought the Brewers within one win of a return trip to the NLCS.

Milwaukee still has to get that one win, and will have to go on the road for the next two contests. The Brewers have not won a road playoff game since Game 3 of the 2018 NLCS in which 24-year-old Orlando Arcia homered to lead the Brewers to a win at Dodger Stadium. Perhaps this time it will be a 22-year-old leading the Brew Crew to a road playoff victory with another clutch hit.

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