“You Gotta Get To The Postseason First”: Christian Yelich Finds His Groove As Full-Time DH

Christian Yelich #22 of the Milwaukee Brewers (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)

Christian Yelich is slowly starting to get into a rhythm.

The former NL MVP and Milwaukee Brewers star is nearly two months into his return following back surgery that prematurely ended his season in 2024. The injury came at a bad time, considering not only was Yelich going through a resurgent season as an All-Star for the first time in five years, but the Brewers were also on their way to the playoffs.

Yelich, a former Gold Glove winner who played most of the time in the outfield, is now playing full-time as the designated hitter. The 33-year-old’s numbers through the first 44 games of the season aren’t where they normally have been — Yelich has a .205 batting average this season compared to his career average of .285 — but he’s coming off a stretch over the weekend where he notched a hit in four straight games.

That includes a two-hit effort — Yelich also hit a home run — to help give the Brewers a win on Mother’s Day over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Adjusting to the DH Life

“It’s just more so like finding your routine in between at-bats and what you want to do, and it’s different for everybody,” says Yelich in a one-on-one interview with RG on behalf of his partnership with DirecTV. “It’s been different for me throughout the year, just kind of trying to find what I like, but starting to get used to it, and getting in the flow of things. The more you do anything, the easier it becomes and the more acclimated to your routine you get.”

Yelich once again reiterates it’s all about getting into a “routine” as a designated hitter. The veteran batter missed the final two months of the regular season in 2024. Although he played in 26 games as the DH last season, this is the first time he’s playing the role on a full-time basis.

“It’s been fine, and [I’m] starting to get in a good spot with it,” says Yelich. “Just finding your routine, whether you want to hit, whether you don’t want to, all that kind of stuff. But it’s been fun.”

Aiming for October Again

The Brewers aren’t off to an amazing start at 21–23, but it’s early in the season. They’re currently four games behind the Chicago Cubs for the division lead in the NL Central.

With that being said, the Brewers have missed the playoffs just once since Yelich arrived with the team in 2018. It also doesn’t hurt that six teams in each league make it to the postseason under the current playoff format.

“Just play clean, play good defense, pitch well, just execute when you’re on offense,” says Yelich on the key for the Brewers making another postseason run. “All stuff that sounds pretty easy, but it’s really hard to do consistently. We’ve done a good job of it over the years.”

The three-time All-Star says the key is fundamentals and not beating yourself every night.

“If you can just not beat yourselves every night, usually you have a chance to win,” says Yelich.

“We’re just striving for some consistency and getting back on track and starting to stack a couple wins together and you never know what can happen.”

Through the early part of the season, the Brewers are actually doing a pretty good job of not committing errors. They rank in the top eight for the least amount of errors per game. However, they’ve been pedestrian in scoring runs and allowing runs, ranking 15th in runs per game and 20th in runs allowed per game.

Eyes on the Prize

Yelich hammers home that you have to “play clean.” Any team that does that is tough to beat.

“Any team that plays clean is tough to beat,” says Yelich. “If they don’t beat themselves, they’re good at catching the ball and pitching and good situationally on offense. It sounds easy to do, but it’s really not. Those are things any good team has to do. We’re trying to do that on a nightly basis.”

Yelich has very little to prove as an individual player. That’s why his key objective is team-based, which is to get back to the postseason — an opportunity he missed out on last season due to his injury.

“Not really individually,” says Yelich when asked about his objectives for this season. “I’ve never been outward about individual goals or anything like that. Team-wise, obviously you want to get back to the postseason and find a way to do that. That’s everybody’s goal every season. Every team has that goal, but only a couple actually get to do it.”

The 13th-year veteran says it’s obviously his goal to win a World Series for the first time, but you have to get to the playoffs first.

“Yeah, of course,” says Yelich when asked if his objective is to win a World Series this season. “You gotta get to the postseason first though. There’s little goals that end up leading to a big goal. Obviously the first one is to try to make the postseason. And then get a couple more before you end up getting to the end there.”