Most big league hitters don’t get to experiment during a divisional race. But when you’re up eight runs in the ninth inning and the other team has a position player on the mound, the usual rules sort of go out the window.
That’s exactly what happened Tuesday night in St. Louis. The Brewers were rolling the Cardinals 10-2, and with garbage time officially underway, Milwaukee’s 22-year-old outfielder Jackson Chourio did something he’d never done in an MLB game. He batted left-handed.
The idea came from his catcher, William Contreras, who apparently nudged him to give it a shot. Chourio stepped in from the left side against Brendan Donovan — a Cardinals infielder pulling mop-up duty on the mound — and faced a pitch that looked more like a beach ball than a fastball. He made contact, but it was a routine fly ball to center field.
The dugout loved it anyway
Chourio couldn’t keep a straight face during the at-bat. Neither could his teammates. The whole scene was less about results and more about having a little fun in a season that’s been almost all business for the Brewers. They swept the doubleheader, improved to 58-33, and are running away with the NL Central despite being a small-market team in a league full of big spenders.
Milwaukee’s clubhouse culture has been a talking point all year. This is a team that doesn’t just win. It finds ways to stay loose. Giving a young star the green light to try something he’s never done in a game, during a playoff push, tells you something about the vibe in that room.
What this says about Chourio
The kid from Venezuela is having a very good sophomore season. Going into Wednesday’s series finale, he’s slashing .286/.342/.510 with an .853 OPS. But Tuesday night was a reminder that baseball is still a game, even when you’re in the middle of a pennant race. Chourio has also dealt with some heavy stuff lately — earthquakes back home in Venezuela have caused real devastation — and moments like this one let him just be a 22-year-old playing a kid’s game for a few minutes.
Will he get another chance to hit lefty before the series ends? Maybe. The Brewers are playing with the kind of swagger that lets you try stuff like that. And with the way they’re rolling, they can afford to.
Leave a Comment