This story was excerpted from Adam McCalvy's Brewers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
MILWAUKEE -- If it feels as though Pat Murphy¡¯s Brewers saw an unusual amount of left-handed starting pitchers to begin the season, it¡¯s because they did. And if you¡¯re looking for reasons to believe that the offense can be better as the season progresses, this may be one of them.
Five of Milwaukee¡¯s first seven opposing starters were southpaws, a ratio that, while not unprecedented, is somewhat rare. To find the last such stretch, one needs only to look back to the end of last season, when seven of the Brewers¡¯ final 10 games were started by southpaws -- five of seven to finish the regular season, then two of three in the NL Wild Card Series against the Mets.
Before that, there was a stretch in July -- against the Dodgers, Pirates and Nationals -- in which the Brewers faced left-handers in five of seven games. But for a stretch of five of seven before that, you have to go back to August 2022.
¡°It¡¯s been great to get a ton of them here early. We saw a ton in Spring Training, too,¡± said right fielder Sal Frelick, one of the Brewers¡¯ left-handed hitters being exposed to an early-season challenge. ¡°Murph talked to Brice [Turang] and said he was going to try to get us as many at-bats against lefties in the spring as he could, just to get us comfortable.
¡°They throw it over the plate, just like righties do. So it¡¯s just getting used to it a little bit.¡±
The Brewers have been starting four left-handed hitters in most games against lefties this season: Christian Yelich, Frelick, Turang and Garrett Mitchell. They¡¯ve combined for a .639 OPS against lefty starters so far. Losing switch-hitting outfielder Blake Perkins to a fractured shin during Spring Training is a significant factor here; he will be a right-handed outfield bat against lefties when he¡¯s healthy again, which could be in May.
Combating left-handers has not been a strength for the Brewers for several years now. Here are their OPSes against left-handers and MLB ranks in recent seasons:
2025 entering Friday: .572 (22nd)
2024: .713 (14th)
2023: .731 (16th)
2022: .674 (23rd)
2021: .704 (23rd)
For now, the Brewers will keep fighting through those tough at-bats. They won back-to-back games against lefty starters on Wednesday and Thursday, first beating the Royals on Turang¡¯s 11th-inning walk-off squeeze bunt (against lefty reliever Sam Long) and then riding Frelick¡¯s RBI single off Cincinnati southpaw Nick Lodolo to a 1-0 win the following night. The final three Reds scheduled starters were right-handers, and the Crew¡¯s upcoming series against the Rockies -- who have two lefty starters -- and the D-backs -- who have one -- figure to be heavy on righties.
¡°It¡¯s not ideal to face all these lefties, but then again, is it? Maybe it is good,¡± Murphy said. ¡°Maybe it locks you in a little bit. You have to stay closed, you can¡¯t come off on the front side. When the ball is on the outer half of the plate, you have to hit it there.¡±
Hitting coach Al LeBoeuf offered a similarly optimistic outlook. He remembers managing at Double-A for the Phillies in the mid-1990s and fielding an entire lineup of left-handed hitters against opposing lefties, if only to mess with that pitcher¡¯s game plan. If a lefty had a quality changeup to use against righties, for example, such a strategy could take that pitch away.
¡°If you think about it logically, it doesn¡¯t matter what side they throw from. They still have to throw it over that 17-inch white thing,¡± LeBoeuf said. ¡°If you¡¯re patient enough to command the strike zone, your chances are just as good as a right-hander, in my opinion.
¡°I¡¯m very happy. I think we¡¯re progressing nicely when it comes to left-handers. I guess in the past, we¡¯ve struggled based off of the statistics. But I think it¡¯s like anything else: The more you see something, the better you get.¡±