Brewers’ Braun using new swing to post impressive numbers in May

Heading into the 2019 season, Ryan Braun really had nothing to prove. His resume speaks for itself: the 2011 league MVP award, six All-Star game appearances, a Rookie of the Year honor and five Silver Slugger nods, not to mention his placement in the top three in most offensive categories in Brewers franchise history.

But at age 35, Braun still wasn’t satisfied.

He was coming off his worst statistical season in 2018, when he posted a career-low .254/.313/.469 slash line despite ranking among the top 20 players in baseball in average exit velocitiy.

So Braun changed his swing, using analytics to increase his launch angle to contribute to a Milwaukee team with World Series aspirations.

Braun’s new swing wasn’t clicking at first, but now it looks like the outfielder has found his stroke.

Over his first 28 games, Braun notched a lowly .196/.250/.381 slash line in 105 plate appearances. But things changed once the calendar turned from April to May. Braun is putting together one of the better months of May in franchise history.

He owns a .403 batting average in 76 plate appearances in May. If he can keep that batting average above .400 over the Brewers’ next four games, Braun will become the first Brewers player to post a BA above .400 in May.

All in all, Braun has tallied a .280/.344/.488 slash line with nine homers and 30 RBI this season, contributing to the Brewers’ offense just like he’d hoped.

Don’t expect him to stop hitting this week, either. Braun has logged a .336 batting average in 56 games against the Minnesota Twins, who are hosting Milwaukee in a two-game set this week.

NOTABLE

— Milwaukee infielder Mike Moustakas, who spent the first eight seasons of his career with Kansas City in the American League Central, has a career .270 batting average and 19 homers against the Twins.

— Twins outfielder Max Kepler owns a career 1.011 OPS in 33 career at-bats against Milwaukee, with three homers and seven RBI.

— Dating back to the 2011 season, the Twins and Brewers have split their last 40 meetings. Milwaukee has scored 200 runs in those 40 contests, while Minnesota has racked up 191.

— Expect a lot of dingers this week. Milwaukee scores 54% of its runs via the home run, while the Twins score 53.3% of their runs by the long ball. The only other MLB team with a higher percentage is San Diego (56.55).

— The Twins have 10 players that have clobbered at least five homers this season, while the Brewers have seven.

— Twins first baseman C.J. Cron has notched a 1.318 OPS this season against left-handed pitching, which ranks fourth in the big leagues – and first in the AL.

— Brewers starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez owns a 2.26 ERA over his 10 career starts with Milwaukee.

— Opponents hit .314 against Michael Pineda in his first seven starts this season, but the Twins’ right-hander has limited opponents to a .205 average over his last three outings.

Statistics courtesy Sportradar, baseball-reference.com