4 Brewers players that need to step up for Milwaukee to stand a chance in 2023

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With the trade deadline over and done with, the Milwaukee Brewers find themselves in first place in the National League Central but with a lot of competition for the top spot. The Brewers have scuffled to start the second half and the Cubs have surged to within 1.5 games of Milwaukee alongside the Reds who remain a very dangerous team.

Other than minor league promotions and guys getting healthy again, this is the roster the Brewers are going to have to make a playoff push with for better or worse. As of this most recent CBA, there are no more waiver wire moves that can be made in August so there will not be another chance to add from outside the organization until after the 2023 season. This is what made the Brewers' lack of urgency at the trade deadline all the more concerning, although the front office did at least go out and trade for Mark Canha to hopefully give the offense a boost.

What moves the Brewers should or shouldn't have made at the deadline is neither here nor there. What we need to know now is who on Milwaukee's roster needs to step up for them to have any chance of making the playoffs in 2023.

Here are the 4 Brewers who need to step up the rest of the 2023 season

For this list, the focus is going to be on players who are currently on the Brewers' big league roster. Sure, if Milwaukee promotes one of their big time prospects to a prominent spot on the roster, they will have to perform. However, it would be pure speculation at this point as to who that would be and when. The focus is also going to be on guys that have underperformed so far this season as naming Corbin Burnes or Christian Yelich goes without saying.

Anyways, those are the general rules in play here. Let's take a look at the Brewers players that need to step up for Milwaukee to have a chance at a playoff spot in 2023.

Willy Adames

If you were to ask most Brewers fans which player has been the most disappointing this season, few would hesitate to mention Willy Adames and with good reason. After three straight seasons where he posted an at least above average wRC+ (126, 120, and 109 respectively), Adames hit tool has seemingly left him in 2023. The 17 homers have been nice, but the .203/.288/.380 slash line and 81 wRC+ through 439 plate appearances has been decidedly less nice.

Adames being a strong defender in 2023 has been the only thing that has kept his value afloat this season, but Milwaukee needs his bat to come alive. Their team wRC+ of 88 is the fifth worst in all of baseball. If the Brewers are going to have any chance of holding off the Cubs and Reds the last couple of months of the season, they need the guy that was supposed to be one of the best hitters on the team to look like it.

Brandon Woodruff

When Brandon Woodruff hit the injured list with a shoulder strain in April, it was a huge blow to a Brewers rotation that was supposed to be a big strength for them this season. Without Woodruff taking the mound every fifth game, Brewers starters have ranked just 19th in MLB by fWAR with 6.2 in 2023. Considering that Woodruff has been close to a mortal lock the last four years as a 3+ fWAR pace pitcher, it is pretty clear that his presence has been sorely missed.

Fortunately for Milwaukee, Woodruff has finally returned and while the Brewers lost his first start back, Woodruff looked like his usual self with five innings of two-run ball with no walks and nine strikeouts. The Brewers have missed his ability to miss bats and throw a lot of strikes. Now that he is back, they will need him to keep it up not only to keep them in games, but also to throw deeper into games to help preserve the bullpen down the stretch.

Brian Anderson

Another position player that Milwaukee is going to need more from is Brian Anderson. When Milwaukee signed Anderson after he was non-tendered by the Marlins after the 2022 season, the hope was that he could return to the form he showed from 2018-2020 in Miami where he was one of the game's most promising young hitters. His last two years in Miami weren't great, but it was clear the talent was there and he was a worthy gamble.

Unfortunately, other than some much needed defensive versatility, Anderson has failed to deliver on that promise with the Brewers as he sports an 88 wRC+ in 339 plate appearances in 2023. Assuming at least one or two other bats pick up the pace, Milwaukee doesn't need Anderson to be a star. They just need him to pick things up enough to be average or above average at the plate. If that happens, Milwaukee's lineup gets just that much deeper and they have a real shot at this thing.

Elvis Peguero

Finally, turning our attention to the Milwaukee bullpen is Elvis Peguero. The Milwaukee bullpen has gotten by this season thanks largely to a Herculean effort from Devin Williams and Joel Payamps. Both of those guys have been awesome this season and have made the very late innings of games straightforward for Milwaukee. Unfortunately, that is where the Brewers' bullpen depth essentially ends as it has been rotating cast of mediocre arms and quad-A players filling up a big chunk of the rest of the relief innings.

Especially with Peter Strzelecki getting dealt to the Diamondbacks, someone else is going to have to step up and give Williams and Payamps some help. Abner Uribe has a chance at being a nice addition down the stretch, but the Brewers need Peguero to be closer to the guy he was at Triple-A where he had a strikeout rate north of 12 K/9. If the Brewers can get him to be a guy that reliably misses bats, it will give them an opportunity to keep their other high leverage guys fresh late in the season and, hopefully, deepen the bullpen for the playoffs.

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