While the Milwaukee Brewers pitching staff is getting it done on the mound, they are more surprisingly getting it done at the plate.
Remember how NL pitchers have already hit six home runs this year? Well, the first pitcher to hit a home run this season came off the bat of Milwaukee Brewers starter Jhoulys Chacin. That crack of the bat started a nice little run of pitchers hitting not just in the league but for the Brewers’ pitchers at the plate in general.
To this point, the Brewers’ pitchers have combined for a .333/.391/.476 slash line. They have seven hits – one of which is the home run – two walks, and three runs scored in a total of 24 plate appearances.
To put those numbers in context, let’s compare it to hitters who have the same amount of plate appearances: Melky Cabrera, Hunter Dozier, Marwin Gonzalez, Garrett Hampson, and Ryan O’Hearn.
Now let’s categorize some major categories to compare: batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, hits and runs scored.
- Batting Average:
- Cabrera – .391
- Brewers’ Pitchers – .333
- O’Hearn – .273
- Gonzalez – .182
- Dozier – .100
- Hampson – .083
- On-base percentage:
- Cabrera – .417
- Brewers’ Pitchers – .391
- O’Hearn – .333
- Gonzalez – .250
- Dozier – .208
- Hampson – .083
- Slugging Percentage:
- Cabrera – .478
- Brewers’ Pitchers – .476
- O’Hearn – .455
- Dozier – .250
- Gonzalez – .227
- Hampson – .083
- Hits:
- Cabrera – 9
- Brewers’ Pitchers – 7
- O’Hearn – 6
- Gonzalez – 4
- Dozier/Hampson – 2
- Runs scored:
- Cabrera/Brewers’ Pitchers – 3
- Hampson/O’Hearn – 2
- Dozier/Gonzalez – 1
The majority of these players, who have been trained to step to the plate and provide offense for their team, and have the same amount of plate appearances, are doing worse than the Brewers’ pitching staff.
Granted, these players aren’t the star power of guys like Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, Nolan Arenado, etc., but how do these numbers compare in general?
A .333 batting average bunches the Brewers’ pitchers with the likes of Adam Frazier, Jason Heyward, Trey Mancini, J.D. Martinez, and Jonathan Villar.
A .391 OBP puts them between Anthony Rizzo, Yandy Diaz and Niko Goodrum (.395), and Shin-Soo Choo, Joc Pederson and Marcus Semien (.389).
A .476 slugging percentage matches the total of reigning AL MVP Mookie Betts.
All of this combined effort further pushes the fight in favor of the National League in the universal DH debate. Especially when you’re the Orioles and Chris Davis – not the DH but an extra ‘hitter’ in the lineup regardless – has yet to even record a hit this year.