Photo Credit: Ian D'Andrea
Through three months of the season, Christian Yelich’s assault on the record books has required near-daily updates.
He made headlines on June 11 when he became the fastest Brewer ever to reach 25 home runs, doing it in the Brewers’ 67th game of the season. He’s been on a record pace for quite some time, however: He was also the fastest Brewer to 24, 23 (tied), 22, 21 and 20 home runs. In fact, he either held or tied the Brewers franchise record for each number all the way back to 15. Carlos Lee edged him out by getting to 14 home runs in his first 32 games in 2006. On three consecutive days last week, Yelich also became the fastest Brewer to 27, 28 and 29.
Home runs are only a part of Yelich’s value, however: He also enters play Tuesday with a .342 batting average, .435 on-base percentage and a National League-leading 17 stolen bases. He’s a clear threat to defend his 2018 National League MVP Award in 2019, and Joe Posnanski recently compared his emergence onto the national scene to Carlos Beltran’s in 2004. As Posnanski notes, Yelich’s last 162 games featured 210 hits, 57 home runs, 137 runs scored and 144 runs batted in.
Barring injury or a massive, sudden decline, Yelich’s is a near certainty to break a few more Brewers records this season and has a clear opportunity to set a few more. When it comes to home runs, almost all of those records belong to Prince Fielder. Here are some of the numbers in jeopardy:
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Most home runs before the All-Star break – 29
The All-Star break is often treated as the halfway point of the MLB season even though it’s not: The 2019 Brewers will play the 81st of their 162 scheduled games on Thursday, but the first “half” won’t wrap up until they’ve played their 91st game on July 7.
In 2007, the Brewers played 88 games before the Midsummer Classic and Fielder homered 29 times in those contests, including two on the second-to-last day of the half on July 7. If Yelich homers one more time in the next two weeks he’ll be the first Brewer ever to 30 by the break.
Fastest to 30 home runs – 89 team games
As noted above, Yelich has either broken or tied the Brewers’ “fastest to XX home runs” records for every number from 15 to 29, and Fielder’s 2007 season is responsible for both ties: He also got to 23 home runs in his 63rd game and 26 in his 70th. His pace slowed a bit in the weeks that followed, however, as he connected for just four long balls from June 19 through the end of July. The last of those four, on July 13, was his 30th of the season. At present, he’s the only Brewer ever to homer 30 times in the team’s first 100 games.
Yelich will resume play on Tuesday with 29 home runs in 78 team games. If he goes deep just one time between now and July 4, he’ll hold the record outright.
Fastest to 40 home runs—136 team games
Fielder’s aforementioned July homer drought set his pace back a bit, but he rebounded with a vengeance that August and September. He went deep nine times and posted a 1.028 on-base plus slugging in August, and he was hitting his stride as the calendar turned to September. His 40th home run came on September 2 in a win over the Pirates. Only three Brewers have reached 40 in a season since 2007: Fielder did it again with 46 in 2009, and Ryan Braun and Chris Carter had 41 in 2012 and 2016, respectively.
Yelich needs 11 home runs in 57 or fewer games to eclipse this mark. If he plays every day over that span, he’ll collect around 250 plate appearances, and in an average 250 plate appearances as a Brewer he’s homered 16.8 times.
Fastest to 50 home runs—157 team games
Homers became a near-daily occurrence for Fielder in the season’s final weeks in 2007, as he went deep 10 times in a span of just 19 games. He put an exclamation point on a record-breaking season by hitting his last two homers in one game on September 25 against the Cardinals. In so doing, he became the youngest MLB player ever to hit 50 homers in a season.
To get 50 faster than Fielder, Yelich would need 21 home runs in 78 or fewer games. Using the same math as above, Yelich’s Brewers tenure puts him on pace for around 23 home runs per 78 contests. Fielder, however, wasn’t just the fastest Brewer to 50, he was also the only Brewer to 50. Any home run past that point would also set a new single-season franchise record.
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