Jake Bauers' Career Year Comes at Much Needed Time

Hitter is on pace to exceed his best numbers

by

Brewers On Deck Circle

There’s still a lot of baseball left in 2026, but when the season ends and the Milwaukee chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) votes on postseason awards Jake Bauers seems likely to get some support for Unsung Hero.

Bauers had the best season of his career in 2025, batting .235 with a .353 on-base and .399 slugging in 85 games, but he’s on pace to dramatically exceed that level of production in 2026. After posting an on-base plus slugging of .672 across his first six major league seasons Bauers is up over .800 this season and over .900 in May. His 12-game hitting streak during that month matches the longest by a Brewer this season and is tied for the tenth longest in the majors.

Bauers’ performance stands out in a season where the Brewers have desperately needed offensive production. He and Brice Turang are the only Brewers who have appeared in at least 40 games with an OPS over .800 this season, while four players have appeared in at least 40 and are under .600. He leads the team in home runs and is a rare source of traditional “thump” on an offense that is otherwise largely built around contact and speed.

For what it’s worth, that same “thump” is also playing up for Bauers this season. The numbers on the left below are from Bauers’ Baseball Savant dashboard for 2024, the last season where he collected 300 plate appearances in the majors. The numbers on the right are from 2026, through Saturday’s game:

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Compared to two years ago Bauers is swinging harder (and missing more), but when he makes contact, he’s largely being rewarded for it. His exit velocity and hard-hit ball rate are both up significantly, creating a profile where it’s easy to imagine him continuing to have success.

Even during the seasons where he was not an offensive leader, however, Bauers has been a standout in key situations. He’s outperformed his career totals in situations with two outs and runners in scoring position and in situations Baseball Reference defines as “Late & Close,” demonstrating an ability to remain productive against some of the game’s best relief pitchers. His OPS actually goes up by 60 points in “high leverage” situations, spots where the outcome of his individual plate appearances are more likely to impact the outcome of the game.

Even while having the best offensive season of his career, however, Bauers’ performance is not highly valued by the advanced metrics. Both Baseball Reference and FanGraphs’ versions of Wins Above Replacement have Bauers’ value at less than a full win this season. Part of the reason is his defense, and both how and where he plays weigh down his value a bit. Both WAR models strip some value away from Bauers’ overall numbers based on his performance in the field, where he’s graded out below replacement level in every MLB season. In 2026 Baseball Savant has him in the second percentile among MLB players in fielding value and range.

The WAR models then take a little more in a positional adjustment because Bauers plays so much time at first base and designated hitter, positions that are traditionally easier to fill. It’s possible that first base adjustment is due to be revisited, however: Brewers fans know as well as anyone how difficult it can be to replace production at that position after using 13 Opening Day starters in 15 seasons since Prince Fielder left following the 2011 campaign.

With the Brewers, however, Bauers’ lack of defensive versatility creates a team-specific problem. With Andrew Vaughn at first base and Christian Yelich serving as the designated hitter most days, Bauers is back to not having a clear path to everyday playing time. He played right field for the first time all season on Saturday and while his offense is a clear upgrade from Sal Frelick at this point he gives back a lot of that value with limited range and arm strength. For as long as Vaughn and Yelich are healthy the Brewers are back to the situation they had in March, where playing Bauers every day will be a lineup challenge. Despite the critical addition he’s made to the Brewers’ offense this spring it’s still possible Bauers would be more valuable to a team that has room for him to play every day than he is in Milwaukee.

All of this, however, is a good problem for the Brewers to have. They’re rolling into June in first place in the NL Central once again and the biggest offensive season of Jake Bauers’ career is a big part of the reason why.