Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club May 2019 Alumni Newsletter Volume 13 Issue 1 Keep Moving Forward 2019 Season Preview Last year was a fun and exciting season for the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers captured their second National League Central Division pennant by rallying to win the last eight regular season games, including a rare Game No. 163 over the Cubs, giving the organization the best record in the league at 96-67 and the No. 1 slot in the postseason. After sweeping the Rockies in the National League Division Series, the Brewers took the Dodgers to the brink in the NL Championship Series, falling one game shy of returning to the World Series for the first time since 1982. “From an organizational perspective, I was incredibly proud of how our organization presented itself throughout last season, and particularly on a national stage last October,” Brewers President – Baseball Operations and General Man- ager David Stearns said this spring. “I’m proud of how our players presented themselves and proud of how our fan base engaged with the team. We put ourselves on the national stage and we made everyone proud to be associated with the Brewers.” Now is the time to move forward. The Brewers are ready to turn the page and write a new chapter. There’s a big target on the Brewers’ back in 2019, particularly in one of the toughest divisions in all of baseball. But Stearns and company are prepared to do it all over again. “We know there is anticipation and we know there are expectations,” Stearns explained. “That’s something we felt before. We had expectations last year coming off our 2017 season. That’s a good thing. “It also means we’ve had success. It means that our fan base is excited. Now it’s our responsibility to continue that. “We’re happy with our team. We know that there will be peaks and valleys during the season. This is a good group that bonded last year.” The Brewers nucleus is intact. Offensively, the team is balanced behind the likes of reigning NL MVP Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain and Ryan Braun in the outfield and infielders Travis Shaw, Jesús Aguilar, Orlando Arcia and Mike Moustakas. The addition of catcher Yasmani Grandal over the winter makes the Brewers lineup as strong as any in the game. “Over the last four years, Yasmani has distinguished himself as one of the premier catchers in baseball,” Stearns said. “He provides us with an offensive force in the middle of our lineup. He’s one of the best receivers in baseball and handles a pitching staff exceptionally well.” There is no question that the Brewers’ pitching strength has been measured by the quality arms in the bullpen over the last two seasons. But Milwaukee will be minus Corey Knebel who is out for the season with an elbow injury. Even Jeremy Jeffress missed the first month recovering from a shoulder problem. The injuries have prompted the Brewers to look for bullpen assistance elsewhere; but they haven’t dissuaded Stearns’ assurance in his pitching staff as a whole. Stearns is excited about the Brewers’ starting pitching corps that line up behind 15-game winner Jhoulys Chacín and the advancements of three young arms who should have an impact in the rotation. “We’re confident in our pitching,” Stearns said. “We have young starters like Freddy Peralta, Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff taking steps forward as Major League pitchers, and have the ability to solidify themselves this year.” Once again, Milwaukee should be among the leading contenders. “The goal since I got here was to build a team that can compete for division championships and playoff appearances,” Stearns added. “We’ve been able to do that now for two years and we believe we are capable of doing that for years to come. “A big part of that is the influx of young players. We’ve seen that the last couple of years and we’ll need more guys to do that in the coming years if we are to have the sustainability we desire.” And with the contending experience over the last couple of seasons and coming within one victory of a World Series berth, the Brewers are highly motivated and take nothing for granted. “We recognize what we were able to accomplish last year and then knowing it means absolutely nothing for this year,” Stearns shared. “It’s a completely new year; a new team; and things are going to happen, both good and bad, so it’s our responsibility and our necessity to focus on this year, this team, this group of guys and how we perform collectively this season. “We can always look back on last year, but it’s 2019 and time to look forward.” Brewers named 2018 Organization of the Year For the first time since 1987, Baseball America named the Brewers its 2018 Organization of the Year. Milwaukee had earned the distinction three straight years, from 1985-87, and now becomes the first organization to covet the honor a fourth time. “We honored the Brewers as our Organization of the Year not just because they had a very successful big league season,” Executive Editor of Baseball America J.J. Cooper said. “We try to ensure that our flagship award digs deeper than that. The Brewers’ run to the National League Championship Series was built by successful player development, scouting and analytics departments. We’ve been impressed with Milwaukee’s ability to develop and graduate prospects to the Major Leagues, as well as the Brewers’ ability to use their farm system to improve the Major League club, most notably with last year’s Christian Yelich trade.” The award is selected by the staff of Baseball America. The honor recognizes not only the success at the Major League level, but also the organization’s amateur, professional and international scouting, farm system and player development efforts. “This award recognizes the efforts that every single person associated with the Brewers puts forth on a daily basis to create a championship-caliber organization,” said General Manager David Stearns. “We are proud of what we have here in Milwaukee and look forward to building on the 2018 season.” The Brewers finished the 2018 regular season with a National League-best 96 wins, leading to a Central Division title. The team qualified for the postseason for the fifth time in franchise history and went on to sweep the Rockies in the National League Division Series before falling to the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series in seven games. Including the postseason, the Brewers recorded 102 wins, a franchise record for a single year, breaking the previous mark of 101 wins accomplished in 1982 and 2011. The team featured a franchise-best five All-Stars, including Jesús Aguilar, Lorenzo Cain, Josh Hader, Jeremy Jeffress and Christian Yelich. Most notably, Yelich took home the MVP award, marking the fifth time a Brewer has done so (Rollie Fingers in 1981; Robin Yount in 1982 and 1989; and Ryan Braun in 2011). The outfielder hit 36 home runs, with 110 RBI and led the National League in batting average (.326), slugging percentage (.598) and OPS (1.000). Several key prospects played prominent roles on the Major League roster, including pitchers Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff. In addition, the organization saw success in the Minor Leagues with the emergence of 2017 first-round selection, second baseman Keston Hiura. He represented the Brewers in the Sirius XM All-Star Futures Game and was named the Arizona Fall League MVP. Outfielder Corey Ray and right-handed pitcher Zack Brown took home the organization’s Player of the Year awards as they continued their rise in the system. The Brewers faithful did their part as well, as 2,850,875 fans packed Miller Park last year. This averaged to 35,195 per game, which ranked 10th in all of baseball. Accepting the 2018 Baseball America Organization of the Year Award was Brewers General Manager David Stearns (center), joined by his staff (left-to-right) Michael Groopman, Matt Arnold, Ray Montgomery, Tod Johnson (kneeling), Tom Flanagan, Craig Counsell (kneeling), Eduardo Brizuela, Matt Kleine and Karl Mueller. MVP Christian Yelich’s sweet swing of success A solid all-around baseball player who carried the Brewers to the postseason By Mario Ziino To no one’s surprise, except perhaps one person, Christian Yelich was a near unanimous selection as the National League Most Valuable Player in 2018. It was a season of firsts for the Brewers outfielder, starting with being traded for the first time in his professional career. Oddly enough, he joined Frank Robinson, Bob Elliott and Rogers Hornsby as the only NL players to earn the MVP the season after being traded. He also was named to his first All-Star Game where he managed to get his first Mid summer Classic home run. Yelich got his first multi-homer game, his first grand slam, his first six-hit game, his first six-RBI game and his first cycle all in his first summer in Milwaukee. Heck, Yelich even added a second cycle weeks after the first, becoming only the third player to ever do it in the modern era. He even produced his first 30-homer and 100-RBI season while setting personal- bests in nearly every other offensive category. So why should anyone be shocked that he won his first batting title and came within two home runs and one RBI of winning the Triple Crown – the closest a National Leaguer has gotten to the trifecta in 81 years? “It was awesome,” Yelich said of the 2018 season.