Brewers: 3 Brewers Players Who Will Be Better In 2023 and 2 Who Won't

Brewer who will be better in 2023 #2: 1B Rowdy Tellez

Rowdy Tellez had a pretty good year in 2022. He finally got an opportunity to be the everyday first baseman and he did well. Tellez slugged 35 homers with a 15 OPS+, but he also hit just .219 with a .306 OBP.

While Tellez's power output may still improve slightly, as there were several deep fly balls he hit that died on the warning track and perhaps should've been homers, the bigger help for Rowdy is the ban on extreme shifts.

Last season, Tellez was shifted on more than 78% of his ABs, with the second baseman routinely playing in shallow right field, robbing him of several would-be hits. With the second baseman now having to play on the dirt and only two infielders on either side of second base at a time, more of Tellez's batted balls will find a way to sneak through. That increases his batting average, his on-base percentage, and slugging. Everything is helped by taking away that shift.

Tellez had a .318 wOBA against the shift in 2022. Without the shift, he had a .338 wOBA. That's a pretty solid increase that's to be expected from Tellez over the course of a whole season.

The shift ban won't affect his power numbers, which will still likely be quite good. But Tellez is likely to get on base a lot more often in 2023, which only means good things for the Brewers.

Rowdy's always been able to hit for decently high averages before. He even hit .283 in the shortened 2020 season, albeit in just 113 ABs. He's a career .236 hitter and his .219 mark in 2022 was the lowest of his big league career. All signs point to Tellez being better in 2023.

Brewer who will be better in 2023 #3: OF Christian Yelich

Is this finally the year that MVP Yelich shows back up? Brewers fans have been waiting patiently, some impatiently, for Yelich to get back into the MVP form that he had in 2018 and 2019 that led to Milwaukee signing him to a long-term extension.

Since that extension, Yelich hasn't lived up to his contract. He struggled mightily in 2021, but showed some signs of improvement in 2022, but not enough to vault back into superstar status. The power ticked up a little bit, the batting average slightly ticked up, OPS and OPS+ improved slightly. But for Yelich, it's not quite good enough.

Yelich seems to have a tendency to ground out to the right side quite a bit lately, and teams started to put three infielders over there and put the second baseman in shallow right. That defensive lineup is gone now due to the shift ban. That should help things a little bit, but Yelich still is looking to find his power stroke once again.

It seems as though Yelich has fallen back into the type of player he was with the Marlins, when he didn't have much in-game power. That wouldn't even be too bad, if he was getting on base like he did in Miami. Despite drawing a career-high 88 walks in 2022, Yelich had a career-low .355 OBP. In Miami, he was consistently around the .370 OBP mark, and in 2018-19, he was over .400 both years.

Failing to return to MVP form has frustrated Yelich just as much, likely more, than anyone else. He wants to get back there as well. He took some steps forward in 2022, and I think he'll continue to take steps forward in 2023.

Am I saying he'll definitely return to 2018-19 form? No. But I think he'll get at least somewhat closer and be a better player in 2023 than he was in 2022.

Brewer who won't be better in 2023 #1: DH Keston Hiura

I'm slightly surprised the Brewers didn't trade Keston Hiura during the offseason. It's possible that other teams simply weren't interested in Hiura and weren't willing to give up a player in order to get him. Like Yelich, things haven't gone to plan for Hiura since 2019. Unlike Yelich, Hiura did not have a track record of MLB performance prior to that and a series of MVP performances.

Hiura is firmly on the roster bubble heading into 2023. With Tellez at first base and Jesse Winker at DH, both of whom are projected to improve this year, Keston Hiura is a man without a clear path to playing time. He brings almost no value defensively and is limited in the positions he can play. Offensively, he hasn't brought the value to make it worth putting him in the lineup everyday and dealing with defensive struggles or putting him at DH.

Hiura has been in a three year long slump and his strikeout problems have continued to grow worse, despite swing changes and cutting down his high leg kick. He hasn't been in a regular starting role since early 2021, where his slump reached a rock bottom. Hiura needs regular playing time to get himself into a rhythm and get out of this slump, but he likely won't be finding that in Milwaukee.

To make matters more difficult, Hiura is now out of minor league options. They can't send him down to Triple-A to get everyday ABs. For now, that has hitting sitting on the bench as a limited defender and pinch hit option in a league with the DH and pinch hitting is not as common as it used to be.

In 2023, Hiura is slated to get sporadic playing time. He showed home run power when he did make contact, but his ever increasing strikeout rate jumped over 40% last year. Without regular ABs, that's not likely to decrease very much.

The shift ban won't help him either as Hiura did better against shifts in 2022 than he did with the defense playing straight up.

Brewer who won't be better in 2023 #2: OF Tyrone Taylor

Tyrone Taylor has had an interesting career. An early draft pick in 2012, Taylor didn't make his MLB debut until 2019 and has slowly started to gain some playing time over the past few years. Yet the Brewers continue to acquire other outfielders to play above Taylor despire Taylor putting up solid numbers.

In 2022, Taylor finally got the chance to be an everyday starter after the DFA of Lorenzo Cain. Taylor showed some power in 120 games but overall struggled to be a consistent hitter and failed to secure a starting job going forward. He fell into a slump with some home runs peppered in that brought his season total up to 17 long balls.

By the end of the year, Taylor gave way to Garrett Mitchell in centerfield and Mitchell is likely to be the starting centerfielder in 2023. Right field is now the open spot for Taylor to get some playing time. But the Brewers have a couple more outfield prospects that will need big league playing time and who are they going to take it from? Probably Tyrone Taylor.

His power numbers were solid but it'll be difficult for Taylor to repeat that performance in 2023. If everything goes according to plan with the youngsters, Taylor is unlikely to play in 120 games this year. Even if things don't go to plan with the prospects, Brian Anderson has outfield experience and will spend time out in right field to give all the infielders the Brewers have their share of ABs, meaning Taylor again likely won't reach 120 games played. That also means he likely won't get back to 21 doubles or 17 homers.

The Brewers moved Hunter Renfroe this offseason and didn't bring in another established veteran for right field because they were clearing room for their young outfield prospects. Taylor is a stopgap until they're ready, but he won't be blocking them. Even if he has a career year in 2023, Taylor likely won't be keeping that starting right field job for very long.