Christian Yelich and the DH Penalty

×

Expand

Photo via Milwaukee Brewers - Facebook

Christian Yelich and Rhys Hoskins - Milwaukee Brewers

Christian Yelich high fives Rhys Hoskins while playing the Cincinnati Reds (2025)

As the Brewers head out on the road to face the Cubs this week, Christian Yelich might be traveling a little lighter than usual. If nothing else, he probably doesn’t need many gloves.

Yelich played in 67 of the Brewers’ first 71 games this season, putting him on pace to appear in more than 150 games for just the second time in his eight years with the organization. His defensive role, however, has dramatically changed: 61 of those 67 games came as the Brewers’ designated hitter, the first time in his career he’s been a primary DH. He’s played in the field just one time since April 24, and his 49 innings in the outfield rank seventh on the team. This didn’t always seem to be the plan for Yelich this season, as he played in the outfield in six of his 12 Cactus League games, but it’s definitely where he is now.

The fact that Yelich is on pace to play in over 150 games this season could be at least in part due to the fact that he hasn’t had to endure the wear and tear of daily play in the outfield. He’s still less than a year removed from the microdiscectomy procedure on his back that ended his 2024 season in August, so it makes sense that the Brewers would be careful with him. Yelich also doesn’t grade out as well defensively as some of his Brewers teammates, although he likely would be a more viable option to play in left while Garrett Mitchell and Blake Perkins both remain out.

Fluctuating Value

The value Yelich is generating by being in the DH role every day, however, has fluctuated with his performance. Yelich got off to a slow start this season and his 2025 to this point has largely been a story of streaks: He’s gone 9-for-60, 4-for-39, 2-for-32, but also had runs of 9-for-21 and 20-for-44 with six home runs. As always he’s also drawing a lot of walks, but there’s only so much a high walk rate can do to boost a batting average in the .230’s.

One thing that could be impacting Yelich’s performance has been well-documented over time. In 2019 Phil Birnbaum performed a study that confirmed a 2013 study by author Mitchel Lichtman that said, in short, that players who move from the field to a designated hitter role see a “penalty” in their performance, one that averages out to about five runs in value for every 500 plate appearances. There are plenty of theories on why DHs might underperform their own numbers from their non-DH days, ranging from injury/mobility issues forcing them into the role to difficulties inherent to the role itself to a likely DH’s age and career status. It’s reasonable to believe that someone like Yelich, who is transitioning to this role for the first time, might experience that penalty more acutely until or unless he’s able to adapt to the role over time.

With that said, there’s also reason to believe that having one player who largely occupies the DH spot lowers the disadvantage a bit. In 2015 Jeff Zimmerman of The Hardball Times noted that players who are normally a designated hitter see a smaller DH penalty than players who would normally be in the field but are getting a “day off” by DH’ing instead. That notion runs parallel with what we found in January of 2022, that teams with a full-time DH were more likely to get higher production from that position than teams that rotated between players there.

Playing Time Flexibility?

On the other hand, having one established DH means one of the Brewers’ biggest opportunities for playing time flexibility is gone. As we noted just last week, the fact that the DH role is full is likely to make it increasingly challenging for the Brewers to find playing time for both William Contreras and top catching prospect Jeferson Quero, who has been on the cusp of the majors for some time now. Having Yelich largely occupy that spot in the lineup reduces the organization’s ability to mix and match and requires them to more specifically pair talent to roles.

For better or worse, however, now that Yelich has become a primary designated hitter it seems unlikely he’ll move back to being a regular at a defensive position anytime soon. In addition to his health and age (Yelich is 33, a number that is more significant than it used to be), Yelich is also committed through at least 2028 to an organization that will have lots of outfield options for most or all of that window: With Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, Blake Perkins and Isaac Collins all under team control long-term, moving Yelich back to the outfield would likely require the Brewers to squeeze a good defender and productive player out.

As he continues to become one of the longest-tenured players in Brewers history, Christian Yelich is making the transition to the “venerable” stage of his MLB career. The Brewers, for their part, are going to have to hope he can adjust to some of the things that come with that and that they can overcome some of the challenges it creates.