What to expect from Sal Frelick in the Majors

The strength of the Milwaukee farm system at the start of the season was its abundance of outfield prospects. The Brewers got little Major League production from its right-field spot through the first four months of the season. On Saturday, the organization put two and two together.

The Brewers called up No. 17 overall prospect Sal Frelick to make his Major League debut against the Braves in front of the home fans at American Family Field. Frelick immediately moved into the Milwaukee lineup, batting sixth and starting in right in that Saturday bow.

The 2021 15th overall pick joined the Crew after posting a .252/.344/.353 line with two homers and eight steals in 43 games with Triple-A Nashville this season, but the numbers don’t tell the former Boston College star’s whole story. Frelick underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb in April and missed two months of International League play. After returning to the Sounds on June 14, Frelick got off to a slow start as he regained feel at the plate but appeared to turn things around of late, going 9-for-22 (.409) with no strikeouts over his last five games before the weekend callup.

It's that innate ability to protect the strike zone that has long been Frelick’s offensive calling card. His strikeout rate improved during his first full season in 2022 from High-A (15.2 percent) to Double-A (13.0) to Triple-A (7.4). He was one of only 10 full-season qualifiers (out of 681) last season to strike out less than 12 percent of the time, and his .331 average, .403 OBP, .480 slugging percentage and 137 wRC+ were all tops among that group.

That’s a big reason why MLB Pipeline made the left-handed slugger one of only two ranked prospects with a 70 hit tool on the 20-80 scouting scale at the beginning of the season. (Pirates top prospect Termarr Johnson is the other.) Even during his struggles in 2023, Frelick was still only fanning 9.8 percent of the time and walked more often (10.4), making him one of only 18 Triple-A batters with more walks than strikeouts over 180 plate appearances or more this season.

While Frelick prioritizes putting the ball in play, it can come at the detriment of some power. His maximum exit velocity with Nashville this season was 106.5 mph, which would rank as the lowest max EV among Brewers Major Leaguers just behind Brice Turang’s 106.6 that sits in the eighth percentile for the category at the top level.

What he lacks in power, he makes up for in speed. Frelick’s fastest home-to-first time with Nashville this season was 3.91 seconds (per Statcast). Only top-of-the-scale runners Blake Perkins (3.69, 3.72) and Garrett Mitchell (3.87) have posted quicker home-to-first times among Brewers position players this season.

So it’ll be a hit-over-power and run-heavy offensive package that Frelick brings to Milwaukee, which could certainly use all of the outfield help it can get as it tries to hold off Cincinnati in the NL Central. Entering Saturday, Brewers right fielders rank 29th in the Majors with a 70 wRC+ in 2023 and have hit .208/.289/.329 as a group.

With that in mind, the Massachusetts native brings some versatility to the table. Considering his wheels, he can cover ample ground in center field, where he’s made 73.6 percent of his defensive starts in the Minors. However, the Brewers may want to keep Joey Wiemer in the middle of the grass considering he’s been worth 6 Outs Above Average in his debut season, placing him in a tie for sixth among Major League center fielders.

Wiemer’s incredible arm strength could also slide to right, where he got the majority of reps when he and Frelick shared a diamond last season. Frelick’s throwing typically plays closer to average, but notably, three of his last five starts for Nashville came in the corner.

At the very least, Frelick’s arrival gives Milwaukee multiple toolsy options in center and right that it’ll need in its run at the postseason. And that’s before No. 2 overall prospect Jackson Chourio enters the picture.