With just five homers in nine games, the Brewers' bats are experiencing a power outage
Let's face it. The Milwaukee Brewers haven't exactly been knocking the cover off the baseball so far in 2022.
But when it comes to home run, it's been almost a complete power outage.
Entering Saturday's matchup against the St. Louis Cardinals at American Family Field the Brewers had logged just four home runs, tying them with the Kansas City Royals for second-fewest in the major leagues.
Only the Baltimore Orioles had fewer, with three.
And of the Brewers' four homers, three came in their 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs at wind-swept Wrigley Field on April 10 with Willy Adames, Rowdy Tellez and Mike Brosseau all going deep.
Omar Narváez hit Milwaukee's fourth homer on Thursday in the home opener. Then in the eighth inning of a 2-1 loss Saturday, Victor Caratini hit a solo shot to give them five.
That meant the Brewers have failed to take the ball out at all in six of their nine games. For a unit that's struggling to simply put runs on the board in general, it's not exactly been a recipe for early season success.
"We've seen a lot of wall balls. We just haven't hit homers," said manager Craig Counsell, whose team also ranks 23rd in batting average (.210) 24th in slugging percentage (.331) and tied for 27th in runs scored (25).
"Obviously, in the offensive game today, you need homers, there's no question about it. I saw something today (saying) singles are going down even more. That means that it's hard to string together hits. Because the single is obviously the easiest hit to get. So, you need extra-base hits for run production.
"And that's just what we've been lacking right now. They come in bunches. You'd hope you'd get consistent, daily, one or two a game, but they're going to come in bunches a little bit, too."
Milwaukee's two biggest offensive acquisitions in the offseason, Andrew McCutchen (27 homers in 2021) and Hunter Renfroe (31) were among those who fall into the "wall ball" category along with Christian Yelich, who had scorched several balls to the fence but had yet to get any over.
Kolten Wong, Tyrone Taylor and Keston Hiura are all players with power who entering Saturday night were seeking their first homers as well while Luis Urías, the Brewers' second-leading power man in 2021 with a career-high 23, opened the year on the injured list and has yet to play a game.
As a team, the Brewers finished 18th in homers last season with 194. Avisaíl García led the way with 29 and aside from Urías, Adames was the only other player to reach 20.
"Yeah, we've got some guys who are going to hit home runs that haven't hit homers yet," Counsell said. "But they're coming."
Mike Brosseau, Kolten Wong achieve career firsts
There generally isn't much good that comes out of a 10-1 blowout like the one the Brewers suffered Friday night.
But Mike Brosseau and Kolten Wong were both talking prior to Saturday's game about logging their first major-league action at shortstop.
Brosseau, one of two utility men on the roster, replaced Adames at the start of the ninth inning but only three batters came to the plate and no outs had been registered when Brent Suter ran into the fence in front of the St. Louis dugout trying to glove a popup.
Suter was shaken up and removed from the game, leaving Counsell to replace Suter with Brosseau and Wong to slide over to shortstop from second base.
"That was one of the three (positions) I hadn’t played – I needed catcher, short and center," said Brosseau, who saw action at the other six spots, including pitcher, with the Tampa Bay Rays.
"A first for me," added Wong, who hadn't played shortstop at all since high school in Hawaii. "It was cool. You don’t want to be doing that too many times, but it was cool to see it from that side.
"I’ve always wanted to have some innings there, and it’s kind of fun to get that."
Brosseau allowed a hit and a walk but no runs in throwing the ninth, lowering his career ERA to 3.38. He pitched three times for the Rays in 2019 and once in 2020.
"(Counsell) came up to me and asked me if I was able to do it," Brosseau said. "I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll get you three outs. I don’t know what’s going to happen before three outs, but I’ll get you three outs.’
"(Just throwing strikes) is the gist of it, because obviously the circumstances aren’t great when you’ve got a position player out there. Just pound the zone and get outs as quickly as possible."
Brent Suter feeling fine
The day after his scary collision, Suter was no worse for wear.
"Got really lucky," he said. "Passed all the tests, so good to go."
Counsell was asked if it was a lesson learned for the hard-charging left-hander.
"In general, full-speed running into walls is not (a good idea)," he said. "But, look, it happens. A guy’s trying to make a play. So, what do you tell a guy trying to make a play? He just lost himself on the field a little bit and obviously it’s not a play that pitchers are required to make very much.
"Frankly, we got lucky that he’s OK."
Counsell didn't wait long to get Suter back onto the mound, pitching him the ninth inning Saturday and getting a zero in the process.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Brewers hit just five home runs through first nine games
