Christian Yelich’s season has taken a sharp turn, and Pat Murphy is trying a different look to shake him out of it.
The Brewers moved their veteran DH out of the top of the order ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, dropping him to seventh before Jake Bauers was scratched with abdominal soreness. That pushed Yelich back up to fifth in the lineup for tonight.
It’s a notable shift for a player who had spent most of the year near the top despite some ugly numbers. Yelich, 34, is batting .234 with a .696 OPS and a 92 wRC+, meaning he’s been 8% worse than league average.
In 75 games, he has seven home runs and 37 RBI. He also missed a month early in the season because of an adductor strain.
The slump has been especially rough since he returned on May 12. Before the injury, Yelich had been at an .826 OPS.
Since then, he’s hit just .217 with a .669 OPS and a 27.1% strikeout rate. Over his last seven games, he’s gone ice cold, slashing .148/.226/.185.
Murphy said the lineup move was designed to create a jolt.
“There comes a point where you want something to change, you want something to spark, you want a little different direction,” said Murphy about the change, which seemed more drastic before Bauers' scratch. The Brewers' manager made clear that it was his decision alone to change Yeli's spot in the lineup, saying, “I didn’t ask him if it was okay…I didn’t ask anyone.
I just said ‘this is what we’re doing. This is what’s best for the team.’”
Murphy also made it clear he didn’t get pushback from Yelich. “Yeli’s a pro, man. He’s our leader, he’s a pro…Let me make this statement clearly: No one cares more about getting right and about the Milwaukee Brewers upholding their standards that they have created for themselves.”
The move comes with Yelich carrying high expectations of his own, according to Murphy, even higher than what’s coming from the outside. For Milwaukee, the hope is simple: ease some of that pressure, get him back in a better rhythm, and see whether a different spot in the order can help unlock the bat that’s been missing for much of this season.
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