I am doing a series where I offer up three fantasy baseball thoughts for every MLB team. I’ll take a look at under-the-radar stats, playing time projections, projected roles, and off-season news to try and highlight the nuggets that might help you in your 2025 fantasy baseball drafts. We’ll do this thing in alphabetical order, and next up are three thoughts for the 2025 Milwaukee Brewers.
3 Fantasy Baseball Thoughts for the 2025 Milwaukee Brewers
A Healthy Christian Yelich Deserves Our Attention
Stop me if you’ve heard this. Christian Yelich had back problems last season. It brought his year to a close in August, but Yelich will enter 2025 in full health. The thinking here is that Yelich’s surgery will give him a clean slate heading into this season. That’s a good thing since Yelich produced at a high level over his 314 plate appearances last year.
Yelich hit 11 home runs with 42 RBI while scoring 44 runs. Perhaps more intriguing is the fact that Yelich stole 21 bases. The outfielder also hit .315 and his .298 xBA does support the majority of that. Considering that he is a career .287 hitter, it doesn’t appear to be unsustainable.
After stealing 28 bases in 2023, it’s clear that Yelich is committed to reviving that part of his game. What’s even better though, is that it came with his best ISO (.189) since 2020. Yelich still maintains an average exit velocity of over 91 miles per hour which will help him maintain his production. While he’s at it, there’s a solid chance of Yelich having his first 20/20 season since 2019 while he flirts with scoring 100 runs.
Let’s Live with Rhys Hoskins’ Batting Average
The problem with Rhys Hoskins is that he’s only a three-category contributor. Hoskins doesn’t run, and last year, he hit just .214. However, it was the worst season of Hoskins’ career from that perspective. It did come with a .250 BABIP so maybe things aren’t as bad as they seem. For his career, Hoskins’ BABIP sits at .270, along with a .238 batting average, so he shouldn’t be a complete liability in 2025.
When you are drafting around pick 300, you can do a lot worse than Hoskins. There is no doubt that the power production is going to be there. In 131 games last year, Hoskins hit 26 home runs with 82 RBI. With a few more games played, there’s a chance that Hoskins could reach the century mark for the first time in his career.
Batting in the middle of the lineup plays in Hoskins’ favor when it comes to both RBI and runs scored. At 77%, Hoskins does a decent job of making contact, but he’s going to strike out at least 25% of the time. From an OBP perspective though, Hoskins has a double-digit walk rate so things do become more palatable. The good news though, is that you can count on Hoskins power production.
Freddy Peralta is a Strong Third Starter
Depending on your team build, you can do a lot worse than Freddy Peralta as your second (back end) or third (higher end) starter. I’m not sure Peralta will ever be a true fantasy ace, although he’s Milwaukee’s number one starter, he’s become quite the dependable starter.
While I’d like to see more length out of Peralta, he followed up a 30-start season by making 32 starts last season. The right-hander also went from 165.2 to 173.2 innings as high pitch counts worked against him. Peralta has issues with both control, 3.52 walks per nine innings, and the long ball (1.35). There is some concern that his ground ball rate dropped from 41.7% to 36.7% last year. He did continue to strikeout batters at a high level but he dropped by about a strikeout per inning from 2023.
With a 3.68 ERA, the overall results were solid, but his 3.88 xERA and 4.16 FIP are what push him more towards being a third starter for me. Ultimately, it’s the walks and home runs driving up those numbers that are our cause for concern. However, Peralta has appeared to find a groove as a strong rotation option.
For more of the great fantasy baseball rankings and analysis you’ve come to expect from FantraxHQ, check out our full 2025 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit! We’re here for you all the way up until Opening Day and then on into your championship run.
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