MILWAUKEE -- Is Ben Gamel channeling his inner Christian Yelich?

Not intentionally, Gamel said.

The hottest hitter during Brewers Summer Camp, Gamel gives some of the credit to a more upright batting stance that reminded at least one fan of Yelich. So far, so good. The Crew aren’t keeping scrimmage stats, but Gamel’s recent output includes two doubles and a single on Sunday and a two-run homer off pitcher Jake Faria in the first inning Tuesday.

Starting with Gamel, here are three candidates for the imaginary honor of Summer Camp MVP:

Gamel
“I don’t think it was on purpose to emulate Yeli, though it’s not a bad person to emulate,” Gamel said of his stance. “We’ve been working on the ‘velo’ machine trying to get my ‘A’ swing off. All last year, I couldn’t get my ‘A’ swing off in a game. Everything was a touch deep [in the zone].

“That was the main focus going into spring this year. How am I going to make these changes and get results in games? … We’ve tried to be ‘uncomfortable’ in my work, and it’s been working so far.”

Gamel implemented the change with hitting coach Andy Haines during Spring Training. By standing more upright, the position of his hands has helped him get to the baseball out front. When Yelich talks hitting, he often mentions that.

Gamel projects to be the Brewers’ fifth outfielder at the start of the season, behind the starting trio of left fielder Yelich, center fielder Lorenzo Cain and right fielder Avisaíl García, plus Ryan Braun getting at-bats as the designated hitter and occasionally at the outfield corners or first base. Last year, Gamel had a .337 on-base percentage in 356 plate appearances for Milwaukee.

“I think the light bulb [has lit] as far as understanding -- and even the coaching aspect of it like, ‘How is Ben going to understand what his maybe flaws are so he can correct them and so he can not let them happen, how he can feel them?’” said Brewers manager Craig Counsell. “That's the coaching process, right? The player has to be able to take it in and be able to make adjustments and feel the adjustments. And when Ben can start saying, ‘Now I get it, now I know,’ it's a great sign.”

Brandon Woodruff
Woodruff started the Brewers’ first night game of camp on Tuesday, the opener of what the club is calling the Blue-Gold Series. Teams were drafted by catcher Omar Narváez and García, but a trade was required to balance things out a bit and challenge Woodruff with some left-handed hitters. One of them was Yelich, whom Woodruff struck out swinging three times.

Woodruff is the Milwakuee’s presumptive pick to start Opening Day at the Cubs, though Counsell has yet to make it official.

“I'm trying to come into camp right now as ready as I can,” Woodruff said. “I look back to last year and it took me probably that first month to get going. Hopefully, I'm using these scrimmages and intrasquads to work the kinks out, and when the real games start, it's go time. I think I've done a good job doing that and hopefully, between these outings and the bullpens, I can get it going.”

When he got it going last year, Woodruff was a bona fide No. 1 starter. He went 11-3 with a 3.62 ERA in 22 starts, and while he missed two months with an oblique injury, he returned in time to start -- and pitch effectively -- in the National League Wild Card Game.

How is Woodruff looking to the team’s hitters?

“I’ve had probably seven to eight at-bats against him,” Gamel said. “His fastball is just different. He’s got a different gear to him. And me, just playing behind him, his changeup’s filthy. I’d never seen it, and you see it and swing through it a couple of times, and you think, ‘Aw, you’ve gotta put a check mark by that one, too.’”

Miller Park’s production crew
“The fact there’s no fans in the stands is still, to me, the biggest thing that players are going to have to deal with this year,” Counsell said. “It’s the most different thing. It means so much to the players. I can’t stress that enough.”

The Brewers, like all clubs, are mulling ways to pump some atmosphere into the ballpark until it is safe for fans to return. That means the scoreboard and video production departments are more critical than ever from a competitive standpoint, since it is those folks who began experimenting on Tuesday with crowd effects sent by Major League Baseball and other in-stadium experiences meant to replicate a “normal” regular season. (At the same time, the Crew, not their television partner, Fox Sports Wisconsin, are producing the live streams of games, so it is a particularly busy week.)

“There is still an in-game aspect to this that the club is trying to get right,” Counsell said. “Generally, from the dugout to the batter’s box, it’s good that not everything is heard, I guess is the best way to say it. Without that noise, everything is heard, including the pitcher and the hitter. Last night it definitely became more difficult for everything that is said to be heard.”

“It’s going to be odd,” pitcher Josh Lindblom added. “That adrenaline’s not there. I feed off it. But it’s crazy watching these young guys. They’re going out and throwing 97 mph with no one in the stands in a ‘sim’ game. It’s like, ‘They’ll be fine.’”

Wednesday marked the start of the final week of Summer Camp for Milwaukee. The Brewers are scheduled to play an exhibition at the White Sox on July 22, then work out at Wrigley Field on July 23 ahead of the July 24 season opener.

There is still some time to get used to what lies ahead.

“It’s going to be different in general just not playing with fans,” Cain said. “You can actually hear everything out there. That’s a little different for everybody. The competition’s going to be nice. We’re all excited to get going. Hopefully we can go out there, start off hot, get off to a good start and continue to play well for these 60 games and do some damage.”