Sal

Frelick

No real surprise here as the Brewers are going to take things a bit slow here with Mitchell at least initially as he re-adjusts to everyday life in the majors. It’s Sal Frelick patrolling center field on Thursday evening at Coors Field.

Before Mitchell suffered a fractured finger at the very end of the spring, it looked like the Brewers would mostly play Mitchell in center and Frelick at third, with Joey Ortiz serving as a utilityman. Ortiz, though, has earned regular playing time, and Frelick has totaled just four innings at third base since the season started. Frelick would seem to be the favorite for playing time in center field at the moment, but both he and Mitchell are taking a backseat to Blake Perkins tonight.

It seemed like Black would get more of a look this time around, but after four games in which he collected three hits and three walks, the Brewers glued him to the bench for the entire last week. Now they’ll be creating a logjam in the outfield by activating Mitchell while keeping Sal Frelick and Blake Perkins around. Jackson Chourio has turned into a fixture in right, so the Brewers will be choosing between Mitchell, Frelick, Perkins and Jake Bauers for two lineup spots each day. That’s not a great fantasy value situation for Mitchell, though his upside is very much present.

Even more importantly, he robbed Taylor Ward of what appeared to be a game-tying homer in the ninth. With Gerritt Mitchell getting close to returning, it’s appeared for these last couple of weeks that one of Frelick or Jackson Chourio was going to get sent down to Triple-A before the end of June. Chourio has really picked it up offensively this month, while Frelick, at .250/.298/.273 in June, has continued to struggle. Frelick, though, does have the clear edge defensively, if that counts. It’s also notable that the Brewers picked both Frelick and Chourio over Blake Perkins for the NL All-Star ballot, even though Perkins has obviously been more effective than the other two so far. It’ll be interesting to see how the Brewers choose to handle things when Mitchell is activated.

Felich reached five times Friday, and he also drove in a run. The 24-year-old has swung the bat well as of late, and this makes seven hits over his last five games to see his average rise to .266 from .242 in the process. Frelick won’t hit for much power, but he has a chance to be a helper in a few categories even without hitting the ball over the fence.

Frelick was all over the place on Tuesday night. After making an impressive diving catch in the top of the second inning, he gave the Brewers their first runs of the night when he hit a two-run homer off Quinn Priester to give the Brewers an early lead. Tuesday’s homer marked Frelick’s first of the season and the fourth of his career. He’s not on the fantasy radar at this time.

Power wasn’t always going to be an issue for Frelick, but one imagined there’s be some gains from his rookie season. Instead, he’s homerless in 116 plate appearances, and he has both a lower walk rate and a higher strikeout rate than last year. It’ll be interesting to see who heats up first between him and Jackson Chourio, since one of the two might be in line for a demotion at some point.

Frelick finds himself leading off Saturday for the fourth consecutive contest as Milwaukee faces veteran righty Miles Mikolas. The 24-year-old is batting .303 (20-for-66) with two extra-base hits, five RBI and three steals through 17 contests. His .387 on-base percentage so far is the biggest reason why he’s continuing to get opportunities at the top of the lineup against right-handed pitching.

This is the third-straight game Frelick will be in the leadoff position and in center field. We should expect to see more Frelick when Brewers’ opponents have a right-hander on the mound, which is what the Twins are doing with Louie Varland on Tuesday. The 23-year-old is 1-for-9 (.111 AVG) in his first two games of the season with a run and a stolen base. Here’s the Brewers’ starting lineup: Sal Frelick CF, William Contreras C, Christian Yelich LF, Willy Adames SS, Jake Bauers 1B, Rhys Hoskins DH, Oliver Dunn 3B, Brice Turang 2B, Jackson Chourio RF, Jakob Junis SP.

Frelick — who battled leadoff and started in center field against a right-hander — singled with one out in the second inning but was ultimately stranded there. The 23-year-old then reached on a fielder’s choice in the eighth inning, swiped second base and scored the Brewers’ seventh run on an RBI single by Christian Yelich. Expect Frelick to continue to see regular action against right-handers for the time being.