Hi everyone. As a new member of this forum I've found the negativity surrounding the current team to be astounding. I've been a brewers fan pretty much since the 2008 playoff run and am blown away with how pessimistic everyone has been on this forum as I feel that this is the best team we've had. After discussing this with the individual who referred me to join this forum (what's his name again?) I thought I could make a post to show everyone how good we really have it right now.

It could be a beneficial exercise for all of us to take a step back in time to last years team to see how different statistically things look 35 games into this season versus last year. Let's ignore pitching for now since I think most of us can agree that it isn't the biggest concern for the team (and it doesn't look a lot different from this year.) I will be typing the statistic in question as a heading and putting the answer right below it in normal text. Also keep in mind I am including all batters with at least 40 PA even those not qualified since it's so early in the season.

If you'd like to use this thread as trivia don't scroll beyond the heading without thinking of your answer. Keep track of how many you guess correctly from each season and let me know in the comments how many you got right.

Starting with very simple counting stats who do we think has the most games played for the Brewers in 2022?

Willy Adames with 35 (that's right he's played every game)

What about 35 games into 2021?

Billy McKinney with 33 games. In second with a 3-way tie is Avisail Garcia, Luis Urias and Daniel Vogelbach with 32.

PA in 2022

You guessed it! Willy Adames with 148

PA in 2021

Avisail Garcia with 124

Hits in 2022

Christian Yelich with 31

Hits in 2021

Avisail Garcia with 30

RBIs in 2022

Rowdy Tellez with 29

RBIs in 2021

Travis Shaw with 22

HRs in 2022

Tie between Hunter Renfroe and Willy Adames with 9

HRs in 2021

Travis Shaw with 5

How about some non-counting stats? Average in 2022

Mike Brosseau with .278

Average in 2021

Omar Narvaez with .368

OBP in 2022

Luis Urias with .388

OBP in 2021

Christian Yelich with .463

OPS in 2022

Luis Urias with .838

OPS in 2021

Omar Narvaez with .972

Advanced stats- wOBA in 2022

Luis Urias with .374

wOBA in 2021

Omar Narvaez with .419

wRC in 2022

Christian Yelich with 22

wRC in 2021

Tied between Avisail Garcia and Omar Narvaez with 16

wRC+ in 2022

Luis Urias with 140

wRC+ in 2021

Omar Narvaez with 162

So how'd you do? Let me know below.

I know what you're thinking: "Shouldn't this be reason for us to be more negative about the teams hitting?" The answer is no. While many traditional stats show that the top Brewers hitters were better last year this is partially due to the different (deadened) balls being used this year. The bigger message here lies within the advanced statistics. While leaders in wOBA and wRC+ are lower than last year, the players following the leaders are far better this year than last. For example last year 35 games in the Brewers had 8 players with a wOBA greater than or equal to .300 (two of which (TS and AG) are no longer on the team. This year they boast 11 players north of that mark 7 of which who were below the mark or not on the team last year. How about wRC+? Last year at this time the Brewers had 5 players at or about average (equal to or greater than 100) and only Avisail Garcia is no longer on the team. This year we have 10.

We were all were hoping for the team to make a bigger move than acquiring Renfroe for JBJ and signing Cutch in the offseason but, although it may not seem like it on a day to day basis, our hitting has still improved drastically from where we were a year ago. While I am sure David Stearns is still not satisfied and is looking for more pieces, there is a lot to be excited about on this team. I believe that we should have even higher expectations than last year all things considered (take a look at the Ashby's improved "stuff+") and the negativity when it comes to offense just doesn't make sense to me.

Let me know if you disagree.