Who will be the Milwaukee Brewers' 2026 home run leader?

Often cited as the team's biggest weakness during their memorable 2025 season was the Milwaukee Brewers’ lack of power. Especially once the postseason rolled around, when power plays a larger role in a team's success than it does during the 162-game regular season, the Brewers' inability to hit home runs at the same frequency as their contending counterparts became a common justification for many in the national media doubting Milwaukee's ability to progress through the playoff bracket.

To be fair, home runs did play an important role in the Brewers' NLDS victory over the Cubs; Milwaukee won games two and five in large part due to the four-baggers that they produced. Then, in the NLCS, the Crew was out-homered 6-to-1 by the Los Angeles Dodgers and failed to win a game as a result. However, despite their streaky power playing a large part in their postseason success, as history indicates it often does, the Brewers posted the best regular season record in all of baseball in 2025 while ranking 22nd in MLB in home runs.

Two Brewers stood out as the most consistent contributors in the home run department last season: veteran Christian Yelich and budding star Jackson Chourio. The former clocked 29 homers in a resurgent offensive performance following a 2024 back surgery that hopefully put Yelich's ongoing back issues in the rearview mirror. The latter, still just 21 years old in his second MLB season, crushed 21 homers for the second-straight season despite missing practically the entire month of August.

Behind Yelich and Chourio was Brice Turang, which would have come as a shock to most Brewers fans had you told them that before the 2025 campaign commenced. Turang slugged 18 homers in 2025, thanks in large part to the 10 longballs he connected with during the month of August alone. Right on Turang's heels was William Contreras, whose 17 homers might have been a disappointment to some Brewers fans who were expecting the two-time All-Star to build off of the 23 home runs he posted in 2024, but with a finger injury bothering him throughout the season, it was still an impressive showing from the Brewers' backstop.

When it comes to who is most likely to lead Milwaukee in home runs during the 2026 season, the four names mentioned above are likely the leading candidates, but one other name must be added to the mix. Despite joining Milwaukee's big-league club in early July, first baseman Andrew Vaughn crushed nine home runs in a Brewers uniform last year. With a full season in the blue and gold on the horizon, Vaughn could absolutely bring home the Brewers' home run crown in 2026. However, when it comes to offering a specific prediction of who will lead the Crew in home runs in 2026, my money is on the Brewers' talented young phenom.

Jackson Chourio will be the Milwaukee Brewers' home run leader in 2026

Two years in MLB, two 20-20 seasons. That is the reality for Milwaukee's budding superstar Jackson Chourio. Though he won't turn 22 until the Brewers' third game of the 2026 regular season, Chourio has already established himself as a productive, everyday outfielder on the cusp of his first All-Star Game appearance. There's no reason to believe that as he continues to get more comfortable with big-league pitching and learns how to adjust to the strategy that opposing pitchers are adopting against him, Chourio won't continue to progress at the pace that gained him notoriety during his minor league career.

Had Chourio not missed all but two games during the month of August, it's likely he would have put up at least 25 homers in 2025, which would have represented an expected increase from the 21 home runs he crushed in his rookie season. It's therefore not far-fetched to believe that the Brewers' talented young outfielder will eclipse the 30-homer mark during the 2026 season, assuming he continues his development and gains more comfort in the major leagues.

The question then becomes: can anyone top a 30-homer season from Chourio? Yelich is obviously the most likely candidate after crushing 29 longballs last year, but the Brewers' DH also collected an impressive 644 plate appearances in 2025, and given his injury history, it feels unlikely he hits that mark again in 2026. Additionally, Yelich's on-base percentage and batting average both suffered during his power explosion in 2025, and it's possible a slight return to the approach he adopted in 2023 and 2024, which prioritized base hits over power, decreases his home run output in 2026.

Turang could approach the 30-homer mark; team insider Adam McCalvy predicted as such just yesterday in an article for MLB.com, but such a projection feels bold for a player who is just one year removed from a .349 slugging percentage. Contreras surpassing the 30-homer mark would not only be a career high for the two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, but it would also be the first time in franchise history that a Brewers catcher posted 30 or more home runs in a single season (Yasmani Grandal came closest with 28 homers in 2019).

That leaves Vaughn, who absolutely could crush 30 longballs next year, but the fact of the matter is that the Brewers' midseason trade acquisition is a streaky hitter. He appeared to turn a corner when he donned a Brewers' uniform, but to expect him to be the player that he was during the second half of the 2025 season for an entire year feels like a worse bet than expecting Chourio to build off of his first two seasons in MLB.

Therefore, while Yelich, Turang, Contreras, or Vaughn could all emerge as the Brewers' home run king in 2026, my bet is on Chourio, who I expect to surpass the 30-homer benchmark next season.