Christian Yelich has been worth every penny and asset the Milwaukee Brewers have given up to have his services on the team for the past eight seasons. Yelich is aging like fine wine, and his excellent age-33 season continued on Tuesday, when he went 3-5 from the plate with one home run and three runs batted in in a 9-2 win for the NL Central-leading Brewers.
It was a concern for the Brewers when Yelich suffered a back injury earlier in the month, but it doesn't seem as though that is affecting him at the moment. He is swinging with both confidence and grace, and the Brewers star, in the process of doing so, inched ever more closely to a 30 home run, 100 runs batted in season after he recorded his 29th long ball of the season and his 99th RBI of the year on Tuesday.
All Brewers manager Pat Murphy could do was gush over the star designated hitter, whom he believes will age quite gracefully and allow him to be productive even in his late-30s.
“This is a kid who will play past his contract,” Murphy said, per Curt Hogg of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Yelich is under contract until he's 37 years old, with him and the Brewers having a mutual option for the 2029 season. A lot can happen between now and then, but with the way Yelich has been raking, he could certainly remain a fixture in Milwaukee's lineup until that time — with the potential to be a major contributor even once the next decade begins.
The athleticism decline for Yelich has been clear, as he can no longer play the field on a regular basis. But as long as that bat remains quick, he'll always have a home, and perhaps he'll be calling Milwaukee his home until he calls it quits.
Christian Yelich bounces back from injury-ravaged 2024 for the Brewers
Yelich was hitting at an MVP level in 2024, slashing .315/.406/.504 and just overall being a force to be reckoned with in the Brewers lineup. However, his bounce-back season came to a premature end, with a back surgery ending his triumphant 2024 campaign.
Nonetheless, Yelich is back and his power production has also returned. He hasn't hit over 20 home runs in a season yet this decade, but now, he's approaching the 30-home run mark, and he remains a reliable source of offensive production for the league's best team. The hope now is that he remains injury-free the rest of the way.
