Milwaukee Brewers star outfielder Christian Yelich talked about his down 2021 season after the team was eliminated in the NLDS on Tuesday.
The Milwaukee Brewers held a 4-2 lead in the middle of the fifth inning in a win or go home NLDS Game 4 on Tuesday. Unfortunately for them, they are going home after the Atlanta Braves earned the 5-4 win following a solo home run by Freddie Freeman in the eighth inning. The Braves ended things after closer Will Smith got Brewers star outfielder Christian Yelich to strike out on three pitches in the top of the ninth.
Yelich’s 2021 season has raised a lot of eyebrows, considering he is not putting up the MVP numbers fans are used to. The outfielder spoke after the loss and said that he’s “got to be better.” Yelich’s comments come courtesy of MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy.
Christian Yelich’s down 2021 season comes to an end
Yelich was already coming off a rather down 2020 campaign, but that can be taken with a bit of a grain of salt due to the fact that it was limited to 60-games. But in 2021, it proved that the previous season was not an anomaly. Something was up.
Through 117 games, Yelich posted a slugging percentage of .373 and an OPS of .736, both of which were career-lows for him. Those numbers make sense, considering the former NL MVP could only muster nine home runs on the year. Overall, Yelich recorded a .248 batting average, 51 RBI, 70 runs and 99 hits.
Once the postseason came around, Yelich was a non-factor for the Brewers in their series against the Braves. Yelich started in all four games of the NLDS, where he went 3-for 15 at the plate while striking out eight times compared to two walks.
As Yelich states in the video above, he knows he has to play better and he will use the offseason to figure things out to bounce back in 2022.