Yelich finds his power with first spring HR

PHOENIX -- Christian Yelich is on the board in what he hopes will be a comeback season.

The Brewers star lifted his first spring home run on Tuesday, a towering shot into the jet stream during the Brewers’ 13-7 win over the Giants at wind-blown American Family Fields of Phoenix.

Yelich’s fifth-inning solo home run followed a homer from fellow outfielder Avisaíl García, offering a glimpse of what the Brewers hope will be big-time production from an outfield that also includes Lorenzo Cain and recently-signed Jackie Bradley Jr.

A return to form for Yelich is key to the Brewers’ chances in the National League Central. He got off to a poor start last year (1-for-27 with 12 strikeouts), and while he rebounded to finish with a .356 on-base percentage and the full-season equivalent of 32 home runs, Yelich’s .205 batting average was a career low and his .430 slugging percentage was 84th of MLB’s 142 qualifying hitters.

At the onset of camp, Yelich referred to that performance as “all-around terrible.”

“We live in a business where it’s ‘what have you done for me lately,’” Yelich said last month. “What I’ve done lately is play terribly, so I’m looking forward to a fresh start and starting a new year.”

And a full year. The MLB schedule is expected to revert to a full 162 games in 2021.

"Baseball, you know, it's just a weird game,” Yelich said. “You take a sample, 60 games, and that stuff can happen. It's just sometimes you hit the ball hard and they catch it and they are standing there. Sometimes you don't hit it hard and nobody's there. That's always been the game of baseball, will always continue to be the game of baseball.

"Some years you are really lucky. Some years you're not. But there's a lot of factors that really went into it. After looking back on it and kind of understanding it, I have a feeling of kind of what happened and, hopefully, able to turn that around this year."

Black, Bettinger dealing with elbow issues
Ray Black, the out-of-options reliever who saw a relatively steep drop in velocity during Friday’s outing against the Rockies, has been shut down from throwing for several days because of a sore right elbow. The Brewers plan to re-evaluate Black’s status at the end of this week.

It’s the second straight camp that Black has dealt with injury. Last July when the Brewers reconvened for Summer Camp, he came down with a right shoulder injury and missed the entire shortened season.

“We’ve had trouble there,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s, obviously, a key to him being able to be consistent and develop some momentum to being successful. We’ve just got to keep trying to get him healthy and get him in the best place we can. The first two outings [this spring] were very encouraging. The velocity was excellent. The command was good. Those were encouraging signs. We’ll just try to get him back to that place and back on the right track.”

Alec Bettinger, a 25-year-old who ranks among MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 prospects (No. 24), has also been slowed by a sore elbow. He has not pitched since the Brewers’ intrasquad game on the eve of the Cactus League, but recently resumed throwing, according to Counsell.

The Brewers added Bettinger and another right-handed pitching prospect, Dylan File (No. 25), to the 40-man roster over the offseason thinking both could help the big-league club in '21. Both have been sidelined by injuries, however. File had surgery in early February for a stress fracture in his elbow and is expected to be sidelined until late May at least.

Bradley reportedly has third-year option
USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale reported new details about the significant deferrals in Jackie Bradley Jr.’s contract with the Brewers, including one previously unreported fact: The deal has a mutual option for a third year.

Per Nightengale, Bradley is set to earn a $6.5 million salary in 2021, $3 million of which is deferred. He has a player option for 2022 at $9.5 million ($3 million of which deferred) or a $6.5 million buyout ($3.5 million of which is deferred). The mutual option for 2023 would pay $12 million or an $8 million buyout ($7 million of which is deferred). The club has not confirmed those details of the deal.

So, Bradley could earn $13 million if he is a Brewer for one year, $24 million for two years or $28 million for three years. The player has much of the control.

Bradley should make his unofficial Brewers debut by the end of the week after getting his feet wet after several days of working. He is expected to play in an intrasquad game on Friday before making his Cactus League debut on Saturday against the Rangers at American Family Fields of Phoenix.

Fuzzy math
Good luck deciphering Tuesday’s box score after the Brewers and Giants made liberal use of the rules put in place this spring to protect pitcher health.

The teams combined to “roll” five different half-innings – baseball parlance for calling an inning off when a pitcher reaches his limit. Eric Lauer faced nine batters, retired two of them, and was credited with two innings pitched. And Brewers starter Adrian Houser became the first Brewers pitcher to be removed in the middle of one inning, then return to the mound for next.

“It’s a little weird, but dealing with back-field games in Spring Training and extended Spring Training, coming up through the Minor Leagues, I’ve kind of done that,” Houser said. “It definitely helps with the aspect of the up-and-downs and getting used to having a half-inning off and going back out and things like that. I think it helps with getting the body accustomed to getting up and down.”

He was followed by Lauer and Eric Yardley, who combined for three innings in the box score but didn’t record three outs in any of those “innings.” The final damage against Lauer: Nine batters faced, two hits, three earned runs, five walks, one strikeout. And Yardley: Six batters, three hits and a bases-loaded walk, with two strikeouts.

“I’m done with the wind,” Counsell said. “We saw it today -- this was, all around, not a great baseball game. It was not a good baseball game, that’s for sure. The wind takes away so many outs. It just makes it difficult to get outs. Outs turn into home runs or outs turn into triples or outs turn into another pitch because it’s tough to catch a popup, even.”