Christian Yelich: Baseball's Budding Super Star

If you were to happen upon Christian Yelich in the streets prior to his NL MVP season in 2018, budding MLB star would have been the last thing you assumed the now 27-year-old does for a living. Yelich looks less like his MLB All-Star peers and more like if Pete Davidson played high school basketball before joining Sigma Chi. But while it’s Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge who are commanding the attention and headlines, Yelich is becoming one of the premiere players in all of baseball.

Yelich was the 23rd overall pick by the Miami Marlins in the 2010 MLB draft and worked his way through the minor leagues before debuting for the Marlins in 2013. Yelich had an impressive 2014 season, becoming the franchise’s youngest player to win a Gold Glove Award. Yelich followed up his breakout 2014 season by signing a seven-year, $49.57 million contract extension.

Yelich continued to make a name for himself in the Major Leagues despite playing in the shadow of one of the most dominant hitters in baseball, Giancarlo Stanton, and despite playing for a ‘less-than premiere’ organization in the Marlins. That wouldn’t last long, however, as Yelich became a casualty of Marlins’ part-owner and CEO Derek Jeter’s decision to clean house. Stanton found a new home with the New York Yankees while Yelich was shipped to Milwaukee in exchange for Lewis Brinson, Isan Díaz, Monte Harrison, and Jordan Yamamoto.

Yelich instantly made a name for himself in Milwaukee, finishing the 2018 season with a .326 batting average, along with 36 homers, and 110 RBIs. Yelich became the first Brewer to take home the NL batting title while being selected to the 2018 NL All-Star team and was named the NL MVP.

Yelich continued to build on his impressive 2018 season, as the Brewers, fueled by Yelich, have gotten off to an 11-6 start in 2019. A large majority of Milwaukee’s success can be attributed to Yelich’s bat as the former MVP became the sixth player in MLB history to hit a home run in each of his team's first four games, and in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals Yelich launched three home runs. In all, Yelich’s stat line in 2019 looks a little something like this: .354 batting average, 1.233 OPS, 8 home runs, 22 RBIs, .785 slugging percentage, and a 1.2 WAR (wins above replacement).

So while Yelich is making his mark in basbeall as one of the top talents, it begs the question, how does Yelich rank compared to some of best players in baseball? Here are his career numbers compared to those of other MLB stars.

Games Played:

Mike Trout - 1078

Manny Machado - 943

Bryce Harper - 942

Christian Yelich - 807

Mookie Betts - 661

Aaron Judge - 309

Batting Average:

Mike Trout - .307

Mookie Betts - .301

Christian Yelich - .298

Manny Machado - .282

Bryce Harper - .279

Aaron Judge - .274

OPS:

Mike Trout - .994

Aaron Judge - .961

Bryce Harper - .901

Mookie Betts - .884

Christian Yelich - .846

Manny Machado - .822

Home Runs:

Mike Trout - 245

Bryce Harper - 188

Manny Machado - 179

Mookie Betts - 113

Christian Yelich - 103

Aaron Judge - 87

RBIs:

Mike Trout - 660

Bryce Harper - 531

Manny Machado - 521

Christian Yelich - 425

Mookie Betts - 397

Aaron Judge - 201

Slugging:

Mike Trout - .576

Aaron Judge - .563

Mookie Betts - .516

Bryce Harper - .513

Manny Machado - .487

Christian Yelich - .470

WAR:

Mike Trout - 66.1

Mookie Betts - 35.9

Manny Machado - 34.9

Christian Yelich - 27.6

Bryce Harper - 27.6

Aaron Judge - 14.4

Gold Glove Awards:

Mookie Betts - 3

Manny Machado - 2

Christian Yelich - 1

Bryce Harper - 0

Mike Trout - 0

Aaron Judge - 0

Silver Slugger Awards:

Mike Trout - 6

Christian Yelich - 2

Mookie Betts - 2

Bryce Harper - 1

Aaron Judge - 1

Manny Machado - 0

MVP Awards:

Mike Trout - 2

Christian Yelich - 1

Bryce Harper - 1

Mookie Betts - 1

Manny Machado - 0

Aaron Judge - 0

All-Star Appearances:

Mike Trout - 7

Bryce Harper - 6

Manny Machado - 4

Mookie Betts - 3

Aaron Judge - 2

Christian Yelich - 1