The Milwaukee Brewers traded for Christian Yelich before the 2018 season but didn’t know he was going to turn into an MVP. Why did he turn into one so fast?
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich‘s last season as a Miami Marlin was in 2017 when the club was arguably one piece away from being a postseason contender.
Fast forward to the off-season, new ownership including Derek Jeter comes in, and along with Dee Gordon, Giancarlo Stanton, and Marcell Ozuna he was shipped off to another team.
Yelich went to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Ever since then, he has been the best hitter in the National League. He won the National League MVP in his first year with the Brew Crew, but I am sure the Brewers front office didn’t see Yelich becoming an MVP.
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Why did this transformation occur so fast? It’s simple: He changed ballparks.
Yelich played at Marlins Park for the first 5 seasons of his career and he was a decent player. He only reached double digits in homers twice in those five years, and he hit only 4 and 9 home runs in his first two seasons in Miami.
But in just a season and a half in Milwaukee Yelich already has 46 home runs.
Marlins Park is definitely not a hitter-friendly park and Yelich got to know that during his tenure as a Marlin.
Here is a comparison between Marlins Park (Yelich’s former park) and Miller Park (Yelich’s current park) with the difference in feet between the two parks:
Marlins Park Miller Park
Left Field Line: 344 ft 344 ft (even)
Left-Center Alley: 386 ft 371 ft (-15)
Center Field: 407 ft 400 ft (-7)
Right-Center Alley: 392 ft 374 ft (-18)
Right Field Line: 335 345 ft (+10)
The right field line is the only part in Miller Park where it is bigger than Marlins Park, but Yelich hits most of his home runs in the gaps.
So, Yelich didn’t change his swing he just changed ballparks so the fly outs to center in Miami became home runs in Milwaukee.
Yelich already is on his way to consecutive NL MVP’s, as he already has 30 home runs before the All-Star Break.
To put it in perspective, he only hit 6 more homers all of last season than his current total–and we’re just starting July.