Brewers Back Contreras
Brewers Manager Pat Murphy Supports William Contreras Amidst Slump, No Time Off Needed
Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras has gone 0-for-20 in his last 20 at-bats, but manager Pat Murphy is not pulling him from the lineup, according to Yahoo Sports. Murphy wants to keep playing Contreras through the slump rather than give him time off.
Contreras has watched his OPS — a stat that measures a hitter's overall offensive value — fall more than 100 points. It dropped from .810 in late June all the way down to .702, according to Wisconsin Rapids Tribune.
Murphy Doubles Down on Playing Contreras Every Day
Manager Pat Murphy made his stance clear: Contreras is not sitting. Murphy wants to study how many balls Contreras has hit hard — at 100-plus mph — to right-center, center, and right field this year, according to Journal Sentinel. That homework is meant to show whether bad luck is hiding behind the ugly numbers.
Murphy's approach is to trust the process. He believes Contreras is hitting the ball well in stretches. Benching him, Murphy feels, would do more harm than good.
Hard-Hit Balls Tell a Different Story Than the Box Score
Contreras has hit over 100 balls at 100-plus mph this year and made an out on many of them, according to Sheboygan Press. That kind of hard contact with nothing to show for it is called bad luck — or "BABIP variance" in baseball terms. It means the ball is going right at defenders.
Murphy's assignment to his coaching staff is to map where those hard-hit balls are landing. If they are piling up in right-center and center field, that could explain the 0-for-20 stretch without pointing to a flaw in Contreras's swing.
A 100-Point OPS Drop in Just Two Months
The numbers are hard to ignore. Contreras was hitting well enough in late June to post an OPS of .810. By the time this slump set in, that number had sunk to .702, according to Stevens Point Journal. A drop of more than 100 OPS points in roughly two months is a sharp fall for any hitter.
Still, the Brewers are not panicking. The team's view is that Contreras's struggles are tied to results, not to anything broken in his swing. They believe the hits will come if he keeps putting good swings on the ball.
What Comes Next for the Struggling Catcher
Contreras will stay in the lineup as long as Murphy is in the dugout. The manager's plan is simple: keep playing him, keep studying the data, and wait for the results to turn around. No rest, no benching — just more at-bats, according to Yahoo Sports.
The next few weeks will test Murphy's patience. Contreras is one of Milwaukee's most important hitters. If the hard-hit balls start falling in, a .702 OPS could climb back fast. If they don't, the pressure on Murphy to act will only grow.
Sentiment
NeutralPublishers
5
Articles
4
Reach
5
