{"id":629148,"date":"2026-03-18T01:16:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T01:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/629148\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T01:16:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T01:16:19","slug":"why-brewers-have-to-find-regular-at-bats-for-jake-bauers-brewers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/629148\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Brewers Have to Find Regular At-Bats for Jake Bauers – Brewers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJake Bauers<\/a>‘s finish to the 2025 campaign and overall postseason performance grabbed the attention<\/a> of many Brewers fans, and this year, he should get a chance to extend that surge. If you\u2019re the Brewers, the hope is that it\u2019s actually tough to get him in the lineup on a semi-regular basis. If it\u2019s a challenge to justify Bauers\u2019s inclusion with any regularity, it means first baseman Andrew Vaughn<\/a> has continued his career bounceback and is sitting pretty in the middle of the lineup. It also indicates Christian Yelich<\/a> is healthy, productive and holding down the DH spot most of the time. Even the team’s skipper acknowledges that that’s asking for a lot.\n<\/p>\n

\t“Not everybody’s gonna have as great a year [as in 2025],” Pat Murphy<\/a> said earlier this month. “Vaughn, [Sal Frelick<\/a>], Yelich. You can’t predict they’re gonna have as great a year.”<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut even if those two optimistic outcomes do occur, Murphy needs to find a way to get Bauers\u2019s power and on-base potential in the lineup four times a week. His intriguing offensive skillset\u2014particularly with some adjustments he made while on the IL last season\u2014could add significant value to a diverse lineup that remains similar to the 2025 version that scored the third-most runs in baseball.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\tBauers\u2019s career numbers might make you scoff at giving him more reps, and even his overall 2025 campaign looks underwhelming in 218 plate appearances (though a .353 OBP is nice to look at). But the case for finding Bauers more at-bats comes from his stellar numbers following a shoulder impingement, and the possibility he discovered what works best for him. Brewer Fanatic\u2019s Matthew Trueblood\u00a0detailed that development<\/a>\u00a0earlier in camp.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\tAs a quick reminder, Bauers went .321\/.433\/.500 with four doubles and a pair of home runs across his final 26 regular-season games last year. He then went 4-for-13 with a double and a homer in 14 postseason plate appearances. While he didn\u2019t have enough plate appearances to qualify for leaderboards, his Statcast color chart shows a pretty picture, with plenty of red.<\/p>\n

\"Bauers<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe has kept it going in spring training, too, though one must always take numbers in Arizona (and small samples in general) with a grain of salt. Bauers has slashed .440\/.576\/.920 through his first 33 plate appearances. That includes three doubles and three home runs. The most predictive form of success in the Cactus League is a good strikeout-to-walk ratio, and Bauers has six of each of those thus far.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\tHowever, two of those strikeouts recently came against lefty Robbie Ray<\/a>, whom Bauers would almost never face in a game that counts. So in practical terms, he really has six free passes compared to four punchouts. Every step in the dissection of his numbers makes things look better.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSo, how can the Brewers get Bauers 350 plate appearances this season, assuming his production is in the same ballpark as his post-injury results?\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst Base: Vaughn will get every chance to prove the start of his Brewers career is legitimate, and he should. While he might not post a 141 OPS+ over a full year like he did in 64 Brewers games, something around 115\u2013120 is a realistic expectation for a 28-year-old former third overall pick who appears to have rediscovered his joy by playing for a successful franchise.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\tStill, Vaughn will need days off to stay fresh, and would probably welcome sitting against certain right-handed pitchers. It wouldn\u2019t necessarily be based solely on how dominant the righty is that day, but rather\u00a0the type of pitcher and how each hitter matches up,\u00a0as Trueblood also explored<\/a>. Depending on those factors, that could mean one or two starts per week for Bauers at first base.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tDesignated Hitter: Yelich is the primary DH, and coming off a 29-homer, 121 OPS+ season across 150 games, he has earned that role. But even as the club\u2019s main DH, his 34-year-old body (not to mention his injury history) suggests he should sit more often.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tEven if he feels good most of the year, it\u2019s hard to ignore how he finished in the playoffs, going 2 for his last 25 in the postseason with nine strikeouts, no RBIs and a .327 OPS. Perhaps more rest during the regular season keeps him stronger for October.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\tGetting Yelich down to around 130 games would open the door for Bauers to DH at least once a week. In some cases, it could also mean Vaughn DHs while Bauers plays first, but either way, it would create opportunities with Yelich on the bench. It probably wouldn\u2019t be more than once per week, however, since they\u2019re both left-handed hitters. Murphy will also likely slot in catcher William Contreras<\/a> at DH occasionally, to keep his bat in the lineup while resting his legs.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\tLeft Field: This is where things could get most interesting. Left field is one of the least demanding defensive spots, but the Brewers still prefer above-average run prevention at every position. Bauers probably won\u2019t provide that, and would represent a noticeable defensive drop-off from several other options.\u00a0Much could depend on who the extra outfielders are, as Jackson Chourio<\/a> and Sal Frelick seem like locks to occupy two of the three outfield spots nearly every game.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\tIf Garrett Mitchell<\/a> doesn\u2019t make the big-league roster\u2014and it\u2019s starting to look like he could miss out\u2014that could open the door for Bauers. Blake Perkins<\/a> is a switch-hitter (and the better hitter from the right side), but he doesn\u2019t offer the same offensive upside as Bauers. Brandon Lockridge<\/a> hits right-handed and has shown improvement at the plate, but he\u2019s still a step behind Bauers offensively.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThat means it comes down to Murphy\u2019s comfort level with putting Bauers in left field on a given night, essentially trading some defense for offense. The Brewers could limit their defensive risk by starting Bauers in left when Milwaukee has a pitcher with a low fly-ball percentage. That doesn\u2019t guarantee anything, but it\u2019s about playing the percentages. With a late lead, tightening up the defense would be easy enough.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIf Bauers starts once per week in left field, the path to 350 plate appearances becomes clear. There are roughly 26 weeks in the season. Give Bauers four starts per week at the various positions and assume an average of 3.5 plate appearances per game, and that\u2019s 364 by year\u2019s end. If he can maintain his recent offensive production over that many trips to the plate, the Brewers would once again be playing chess, while most of the rest of the league is playing checkers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jake Bauers‘s finish to the 2025 campaign and overall postseason performance grabbed the attention of many Brewers fans,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2401],"tags":[1749,5,136,1301,4364,843,59,4280,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-629148","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-brewers","8":"tag-andrew-vaughn","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-brewers","11":"tag-christian-yelich","12":"tag-jake-bauers","13":"tag-milwaukee","14":"tag-milwaukee-brewers","15":"tag-milwaukeebrewers","16":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116247541323456923","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629148","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=629148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}