{"id":575956,"date":"2026-02-16T18:28:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T18:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/575956\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T18:28:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T18:28:16","slug":"brewers-best-and-worst-case-scenarios-for-2026-left-field-brewers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/575956\/","title":{"rendered":"Brewers’ Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios for 2026: Left Field – Brewers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Brewers found a solid left fielder in 2025\u2014so solid, another team wanted him, and was willing to take a low-leverage reliever as well in exchange for \u00c1ngel Zerpa. Isaac Collins<\/a> was, like the recently-traded Andruw Monasterio<\/a>, one of those unheralded pickups who paid off big-time for Milwaukee. Who will fill Collins\u2019s shoes in left field?\n<\/p>\n

\n\t2025 Review
The Brewers started with Jackson Chourio<\/a> in left, but injuries to center fielders Blake Perkins<\/a> and Garrett Mitchell<\/a> soon pushed Chourio to center. Collins took over, led the team\u2019s regular starters in OBP, posted a 118 OPS+, and provided 2.1 Wins Above Replacement (WAR), according to Baseball Reference.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to Collins and Chourio, Jake Bauers<\/a> and Christian Yelich<\/a> saw some time in left field for the Brewers in 2025. Chourio, Bauers, and Yelich remain on the roster, as do Tyler Black<\/a> and Brandon Lockridge<\/a>, who put in brief appearances in left for Milwaukee.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tCurrent Roster Situation
Chourio is arguably the lead contender to replace Collins. He performed superbly in left in 2024, notching 3.8 rWAR as a rookie, despite a horrendous slump to start the season. This will be very likely if Mitchell and Perkins stay healthy. If that is the case, then Chourio should be just fine in left field, where his defense is more than adequate.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tOther options on the roster (or among the NRIs) who have experience in left field or who could cover the position include Jett Williams<\/a>, Akil Baddoo<\/a>, Bauers, Yelich, Lockridge, Black, Steward Berroa<\/a>, recent free-agent pickup Luis Rengifo<\/a>, Greg Jones<\/a>, and Luke Adams<\/a>. Baddoo, Bauers, Yelich, Lockridge, and Black may be the top choices among those called up.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBaddoo is a lefty bat with some pop. Bauers has been a corner outfielder and backup first baseman in 2024 and 2025 for the Brewers. Yelich is a former MVP who still plays a competent left field. Black is a former top-100 prospect in search of a defensive home to go with some OBP skills and above-average speed. Lockridge has flashed speed and defense in the majors, and showed good OBP skills in the minors. The trades the team made to respond to injuries last year have given them ample options heading into this season.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBest-Case Scenario
Chourio locks down left field and plays 140-145 games there. This is less a reflection on Chourio, who is the Brewers\u2019 franchise cornerstone for the next six to eight years, and more a reflection on the other two outfield positions.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThere are, of course, multiple other scenarios where the Brewers fare well in left field. But for the 2026 season, a good sign for the Brewers will be Chourio being the left fielder day in and day out, because it means a lot of other positions have worked out well.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWorst-Case Scenario
Multiple players end up with 15 or more starts in left field. This, again, may not reflect on Chourio so much as the team as a whole. If Chourio isn\u2019t in left field 90% of the time, they\u2019ve had injury problems, either with Chourio or with other players, forcing Chourio to play elsewhere. While the team\u2019s depth in left field means they will have someone competent, other positions may have more of a downgrade as a result.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tOverview
Left field is not going to easily turn into a disaster for Milwaukee. The team has several players who could fill the position competently. The \u201cworst-case\u201d scenarios Milwaukee faces in 2026 will likely be the effects of having to address shortfalls or a rash of injuries at other positions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brewers found a solid left fielder in 2025\u2014so solid, another team wanted him, and was willing to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2401],"tags":[5,136,4362,3875,843,59,4280,4,15342],"class_list":{"0":"post-575956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-brewers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brewers","10":"tag-isaac-collins","11":"tag-jackson-chourio","12":"tag-milwaukee","13":"tag-milwaukee-brewers","14":"tag-milwaukeebrewers","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-tyler-black"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116081728233230351","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}