This Brewers All-Star heating up could make fans forget all about Eugenio Suarez

The Milwaukee Brewers were one of several teams linked ad nauseam to Eugenio Suarez at the trade deadline, but failed to acquire the slugging third baseman. This was a gut punch, considering the team's clear need for added power and the relatively low cost Suarez ended up going for. As much as it hurt to miss out on him, though, Brewers fans will forget all about it if William Contreras can turn his season around. Recent signs suggest he might be doing just that.

Contreras went 5-for-7 in Milwaukee's dominant 16-9 win on Friday, including a home run and a double. Sure, everyone on the Brewers roster contributed in the team's 25-hit performance, but the strong showings from Contreras are starting to pile up.

The two-time All-Star has now strung together four straight multi-hit performances, and has gone 12-for-18 with five extra-base hits this week alone. One week is obviously a very small sample size in the scope of a full 162-game season, but this has been the best Contreras has looked all year by far. Getting him back to his former star self would make this Brewers lineup that much more dangerous and allow Brewers fans to look past the Suarez whiff.

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A William Contreras turnaround would make the Brewers downright frightening

Contreras had won the NL Silver Slugger award as the best hitting catcher in the National League in each of his first two seasons with the Brewers, but the 2025 campaign hasn't been quite as impressive.

Even after his huge performance on Friday, Contreras is slashing .261/.356/.382 with nine home runs and 47 RBI this season. He's been fine at the plate, especially for a catcher, but considering the fact that he consistently hits somewhere between second and fourth in the lineup, the Brewers needed more from Contreras. Well, his bat has woken up.

Even with Contreras in the midst of a down year, the Brewers are sixth in the majors in runs scored. Imagine how good their lineup can be if Contreras is performing like the All-Star he's more than capable of being? His 2025 OPS is a good 70 points lower than his career mark. There's room for improvement. Contreras being red-hot down the stretch would make the Brewers scary.

There's reason to believe William Contreras hot stretch is sustainable

Contreras having five hits is impressive by itself, but he was absolutely tattooing the ball all night long on Friday. He set a Statcast Era record by having six batted balls hit harder than 101 mph. Hitting a ball that hard twice in a given game is impressive — Contreras tripled that.

Again, a one-game sample size is obviously small, but Contreras has looked as good as he has all year recently. This is particularly notable because the 27-year-old has played much of the season with a fractured finger.

The injury clearly bothered Contreras for months, but now, he's back to hitting the ball hard nearly every time he steps up to the plate. With months passing, there's a good chance that finger feels a lot better, if not 100 percent. A healthy Contreras is one of the best offensive catchers in the sport, and we're starting to see that now.

Adding a big bat like Suarez would've been nice, but the Brewers adding the star version of Contreras would be a major upgrade by itself. When he's swinging a hot bat, he's more than good enough to make Brewers fans forget all about Suarez.