Yelich on slow start: 'I’ve been there before'

MILWAUKEE – On one hand, the Brewers knew they were up against it in Monday’s matchup with reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. On the other hand, they know they will need a better version of Christian Yelich this season as the veteran hitter and clubhouse leader navigates his first season following last year’s back surgery.

So, Yelich found himself an observer as Skubal showed why he’s one of baseball’s toughest left-handers, dealing seven scoreless innings and sending the Brewers to a 9-1 loss to the Tigers at American Family Field.

“It’s a slow start, but I’ve been there before,” said Yelich, who is sitting on a .583 OPS going into another tough task Tuesday against Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty. “I was telling someone this the other day: Some years it’s like downhill skiing, nice and smooth and easy all year. You start up high and you’re there the whole time. And then other years, you’ve got a hard hat and shovel and you’re digging all season.

“They all play out differently and I know how to navigate both of them. There’s far less panic when you’ve done it for a long time. You realize how long the year is. It will turn. I’ll be fine. I’m not worried about it.”

Brewers manager Pat Murphy made clear that it was his decision to leave Yelich out of Monday’s lineup, and not Yelich’s call to sit.

“He always wants to play against everybody, you know what I mean?” Murphy said. “But at a certain point, you have to pick some days that you give him off-days. Everyone who knows Christian Yelich -- everyone, for all the years he's played this game -- knows that he's not backing off from anyone. So it was my decision. I made it [Sunday], and it's just based on, hey, give him a perspective, give him a day.

“I'm going to do it from time to time. He's not going to play 155 games, not that his body's old or anything like that. It's just that he needs perspective like everyone else. He's not getting the results. But if you looked at the number of plate appearances and you look at his hard contact rate, right now, I bet it's above last year's. I don't know that for a fact, but I'd be willing to say it's pretty close.”

Murphy’s instinct was correct. Per Statcast, Yelich’s hard hit rate was slightly up to 50 percent going into this series (from 46.7 percent last season) and his average exit velocity on batted balls in play was about the same (91.2 this season from 92.1 last season).

Other metrics are also right in line with last year, when Yelich was leading the NL in batting average and on-base percentage, and won a start in the All-Star Game just before suffering the back flare-up that would ruin his season. His ground-ball rate is about the same (55 percent this season from 54.2 percent last season), though slightly fewer of his balls hit in the air are line drives (20 percent this season, 23.4 percent last season) and more are fly balls (22.5 percent this season, 19.2 percent last season). And his strikeout rate sits at 24.6 percent, up from a career-best 18.4 percent last season.

All of those numbers require the same warning at this juncture: Small sample alert.

“The kid is not getting results but he’s hitting the ball hard," Murphy said. "It does play in your head a little bit, so that’s the other factor in it. But the kid’s a great kid and he’s a great leader. He’s been huge to this organization. During the most successful stint in this organization's history, Yelich has been a part of it – a huge part of it."

Yelich isn’t the only Brewers run producer off to a relatively quiet start. Rhys Hoskins is 8-for-44 (.182) this season with a .520 OPS after a mixed night on Tuesday, including a fifth-inning single that gave the Brewers their first baserunner against Skubal, but also a strikeout in the sixth with the bases loaded.

It was already 9-0 at the time after Milwaukee’s defense let down left-handed starter Tyler Alexander in the early innings, so a hit there might not have changed the game. But it would have helped Hoskins continue what he believes is a trend in the right direction.

“The ‘slug’ will come if the hard contact is there,” Hoskins said. “You just have to keep walking up there. It’s a funny game sometimes. I can tell you, I’ve felt way worse.”