Brewers 2022 Season Report Card Grades For The Infield

The Brewers 2022 infield did not change drastically from the players they ended the 2021 season with.

During the last offseason, the Crew's biggest losses in the infield were Daniel Vogelbach and Eduardo Escobar. Vogelbach was non-tendered and eventually signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Escobar, a trade deadline pickup in 2021, signed with the New York Mets in free agency.

Returning were Rowdy Tellez, Kolten Wong, Willy Adames, Luis Urias, Jace Peterson, and Keston Hiura. The biggest question mark entering the season was if Urias would meet expectations as the everyday starting third basemen.

In terms of new faces, the only new infielder was Mike Brosseau. Brosseau was acquired via trade with the Tampa Bay Rays prior to the lockout beginning. The timing of this trade coincided with the Brewers bringing in his former coach, Ozzie Timmons, as a co-hitting coach.

In this article, we will give a report card grade on each of these Brewers  infielders' seasons.  

1B Rowdy Tellez 2022 Season Grade: A-

2022 was a career year for the 27 year old slugging first baseman. This year, the Brewers granted him nearly every day playing time as he appeared in 153 games. The results were career highs in nearly every standard offensive statistic including 35 home runs and 89 RBI. He led the Brewers in home runs and finished second in RBI.

If you dive further into his metrics, Tellez had an impressive 10.4% walk rate to 20.2% K rate.  Due to a career low .219 batting average his on-base percentage was just .306, but the truth is he was pretty good at drawing a free pass. In fact, he finished second on the team in walks with 62, trailing only Christian Yelich.

With his intermittent platoon partner Keston Hiura struggling against left-handed pitchers, Tellez did get quite a few opportunities against south paws. The most glaring difference in his splits was his ability to slug the baseball in these matchups. Against left-handed pitchers his slugging percentage was just .330 as opposed to .498 against righties.

Overall, there is a lot to like about the way Tellez performed in 2022.  First base has been a revolving door for the Brewers over the past several years, but it looks like Tellez may have locked it up as he is under club control until 2025.