MILWAUKEE — Christian Yelich always believed he could get back to hitting the way he had earlier in his career, even as he encountered skepticism about his chances of making a successful comeback from back surgery.
The Milwaukee Brewers slugger has responded by putting together his first 100-RBI season since making his National League MVP run in 2018.
Yelich went 2 for 4 and drove in his 100th run of the year in the Brewers’ 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. The milestone reflected how far Yelich has come since back issues ended his 2024 season prematurely.
“There were a lot of questions obviously that I had to answer,” Yelich said. “People doubting whether or not I could play. I felt like I was still going to be able to play at a high level after dealing with what I had to deal with, all the back stuff.”
Yelich was leading the NL in on-base percentage and batting average last year before his season ended. He underwent a diskectomy last August to remove the damaged part of a disk in the spine.
Then he began the long road back.
Now he’s tied for third in the NL in RBIs, behind only Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber and the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso. He also has 29 homers, putting him in a tie for eighth in the NL.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy believes those numbers could be even better if Yelich just had a little more luck.
“You’d be astounded how many balls he’s hit at a 100 (mph)-plus rate that were caught,” Murphy said.
Yelich also had to bounce back from a rough start. He was hitting below .200 as late as May 23, at a time when the Brewers owned a losing record.
Once he started heating up, so did the Brewers. Milwaukee (94-59) is 35 games above .500 for the first time in franchise history.
“That’s our guy,” rookie third baseman Caleb Durbin said. “We’ve kind of relied on him all year. He’s the backbone of this team. It’s a team effort, but we go where Yeli goes.”
Murphy has spoken on numerous occasions about how much of an impact the 33-year-old Yelich has made in the clubhouse while helping lead a young team. Yelich and pitchers Freddy Peralta and Brandon Woodruff are the only players remaining from 2018, when the Brewers began a run of seven playoff berths in eight seasons.
“I’m just proud of the guys on the team, especially our young players, because the demand is high here to come in as a rookie on a team that’s winning games,” said Yelich, who is batting .268 with an .813 OPS. “There’s not like that grace period for you to get your feet wet in the big leagues and make mistakes and go through the growing pains.”
Yelich won the MVP his debut season in Milwaukee and was just as productive in 2019 before a broken kneecap knocked him out for the remainder of that year. Yelich wasn’t nearly as effective from 2020-22 while dealing with back issues, but he got his OPS back over .800 in 2023 and made the All-Star Game last year before dealing with another season-ending injury.
Now he’s healthy again as the Brewers get ready for another postseason.
“Just being available for most of the games this year and being able to play is kind of refreshing,” Yelich said. “I knew I’m still capable of playing at a high level if I just do it, if I just play.”
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