Should the Brewers be concerned about Christian Yelich?

Christian Yelich’s slow start may be concerning the Brewers.

Let’s take a look at a small, but still concerning sample size for Christian Yelich in 2020. The Milwaukee Brewers star has played in eight games so far and is hitting a whopping .088 with an OPS of .368.

Yelich showed up in Milwaukee in 2018 and proceeded win win the NL MVP Award. He finished second in the voting in 2019 and is being relied upon as the star of the lineup now that Lorenzo Cain has opted out.

One excuse Yelich and the rest of the Brewers can use for the overall 4-5 start is that they had to stop play after six games due to a postponed series with the St. Louis Cardinals. Still, Yelich hitting .088 stands out and it is worth asking if the Brewers should be concerned at this point.

Christian Yelich’s concerning start likely won’t become a trend

Eight games makes up a good chunk of the shortened 60-game schedule. Yelich had 44 home runs in 2019 and has a total of one so far. He is also rocking a -0.6 WAR, which would be the first time he finished in the negatives if the number stands.

Once again, it is early. But the season will be half over in three weeks and what would usually be chalked up as a rough April now makes up a significant portion of the season. So should the Brewers and fans be concerned?

There is certainly no reason to be excited about the slow start. Being concerned is fair while we may have to wait another week to go into full panic mode. A career .299 hitter like Yelich should find a way to return to his average as time goes on.

Eight games during a normal year would have us in the first week of April. Yelich has won the NL batting title in two consecutive years and should be given more time before he takes too much flak.