Milwaukee designed its offense to badger opponents<\/a>. The group does not strike out much (fifth-lowest rate in the majors) and puts the ball in play without chasing (sixth-best walk rate). The hitters use their legs with swiftness and aggression; no team was worth more runs on the bases, according to FanGraphs.<\/p>\nThe approach places the other team in a nine-inning blender. The group presumes every extra base is there for the taking.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe force them,\u201d Frelick said, \u201cto throw us out.\u201d<\/p>\n
In turn, the Brewers induced more errors than any other club in 2025. They make routine plays more difficult, as the Cubs discovered when reliable second baseman Nico Hoerner flubbed a grounder in the first inning of a Game 1 rout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say control the controllables \u2014 you can\u2019t control the height,\u201d said second baseman Brice Turang, who, at 5-11, qualifies as a veritable skyscraper in Milwaukee\u2019s infield. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to maximize what we\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n
The diminutiveness fits the ethos expressed by manager Pat Murphy, who has spent the year insisting that the Brewers, winners of the National League Central in four of the past five seasons, are underdogs.<\/p>\n
But the organization is not wedded to the concept of smaller fielders. When the Brewers reached the National League Championship Series in 2018, the infield featured notable heft: catcher Erik Kratz (6-foot-4, 250 pounds), first baseman Jes\u00fas Aguilar (6-foot-3, 277), second baseman Jonathan Villar (6-foot-0, 233), shortstop Jonathan Schoop (6-foot-1, 247) and third baseman Mike Moustakas (6-foot-0, 230). They called themselves the \u201cBig Boy Infield,\u201d and printed up T-shirts.<\/p>\n
That same summer, Milwaukee selected Turang, a slender prep infielder from California, with the 21st pick in the draft. Three years later, the Brewers used the No. 15 pick on Frelick, a compact former high school quarterback, out of Boston College. The two became 25-year-old cornerstones in 2025. Turang bulked up to where he could contribute 18 homers. Frelick hit .288 with 12 homers.<\/p>\n
\ufeff<\/p>\n
Despite his pedigree, Frelick finds himself defined more by his stature than his skills. \u201cMy boys always make fun of me,\u201d Frelick said. \u201cIf somebody is talking about me, it\u2019s always like, \u2018Oh, he\u2019s scrappy.\u2019 Or, \u2018ball player.\u2019 And they\u2019re always like, \u2018Dude, it\u2019s so funny how no one ever says, \u2018Talented.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
It is easy to overlook the undersized.<\/p>\n
Milwaukee searches the depths of every market in player acquisition. Sometimes the available athletes come with perceived flaws, like a lack of height. The Brewers cannot afford to ignore them. Because the benefit of a seemingly insignificant move can be immense, as the club learned after selecting Collins in the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 draft in 2022. After two more seasons in the minors, Collins emerged as a National League Rookie of the Year candidate in 2025, with a .779 OPS in 130 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a huge part of this year,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cOne of the most underrated guys on the club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murphy learned the appeal of unconventional players during his decades recruiting as a college coach at Notre Dame and Arizona State. As he often does, he supplied a metaphor: \u201cBack in the day, you had this pack of Lifesavers,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cYou opened it up, everybody grabbed the red one. But the orange ones weren\u2019t too bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
The red Lifesavers \u2014 the best prep prospects in the country \u2014 were unlikely to ever matriculate to campus. \u201cA lot of times the orange Lifesaver, or the kid who\u2019s going to come to college, is shorter or has thick ankles, something like that, a chubby kid,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cBut they can play baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Murphy, this theory\u2019s apotheosis was Dustin Pedroia. Before Pedroia became an American League MVP and two-time World Series champion for the Boston Red Sox, he was a shortstop at Arizona State, listed at 5-foot-9. Recalled Murphy, \u201cI used to tell Pedroia: \u2018Your height is to your advantage. If the ball goes through your legs, it\u2019ll hit you in the cup.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Brewers manager Pat Murphy knows first-hand from his time as a college coach the value in an undersized player. (Michael Reaves \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
A couple years ago, Murphy visited the Arizona Fall League to watch some prospects. He found himself smitten with Durbin, then a stocky infielder in the New York Yankees organization. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Look at that little s\u2014,\u2019\u201d Murphy said. \u201cI just loved the way he played.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s on a mission to relentlessly pursue growth,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cYou can\u2019t stop him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Durbin stood about 5-foot-5 as a freshman at Lake Forest High in the Chicago suburbs. He graduated with four varsity letters in wrestling, three letters in baseball and two additional inches in height. \u201cI\u2019ve always been the smallest guy on the field,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Unable to generate interest from Division I schools, he played at Division III Washington University in St. Louis. After batting nearly .400 in college, Durbin was taken by the Atlanta Braves in the 14th round of the 2021 draft. The Yankees acquired him after the 2022 season. When the Brewers dealt away closer Devin Williams after last season, the primary return looked like pitcher Nestor Cortes. But Milwaukee viewed Durbin, the second piece in the deal, as a crucial part of the package.<\/p>\n
Durbin made his big-league debut on April 18 and never left. Unwilling to duck out of the box when pitchers threw inside, he led the National League after getting hit by pitches 24 times. His peskiness extended a lineup that finished the regular season tied with the Dodgers for seeing the fifth most pitches per plate appearance. These are some of the, ahem, little things that helped Milwaukee rank third in runs in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just have a team with a lot of smaller guys who are perceived to be less talented but more hard-working,\u201d Durbin said. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely a hard-working group of guys. But we have a good skillset, that\u2019s maybe less valued, but it plays at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a Game 1 trouncing of the Cubs, the Brewers stuck to the script, scoring nine runs without any homers. Two days later, the lineup flashed its potential by swatting three home runs in another laugher. Milwaukee is now one victory away from another champagne bash. The team would likely be an underdog when matched up with the Los Angeles Dodgers or Philadelphia Phillies. The hitters will certainly be shorter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d rather be \u2018scrappy\u2019 than an All-Star lineup,\u201d Frelick said. \u201cIt feels better that way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 Inside the delirium of a division-clinching celebration at Busch Stadium, Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Sal Frelick found…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":286248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[4247,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-286247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-milwaukee-brewers","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115338011620740946","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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