Christian Yelich’s 2024 season was prematurely ended by a back surgery in mid-August, and at the time, the Brewers outfielder said he hoped he’d be fully recovered for the coming 2025 campaign. It appears that best-case scenario looks to be in play, as Yelich told MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy and other reporters today that “I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day….Unless something crazy happens here, I don’t see why I wouldn’t be ready.”
It was a busy winter for Yelich, who said he didn’t get “really any break period” in between his rehab work and then his usual ramp-up work in advance of spring camp. “If anything, I probably did more baseball stuff this offseason than I would in a typical offseason just out of necessity and having to check those boxes. I feel good and wasn’t really delayed in any preparation for Spring Training,” the former NL MVP said.
Back problems have plagued Yelich for several years, so hopefully last year’s procedure might finally allow Yelich some longer-term relief as he enters his 13th Major League season. Even before the surgery, Yelich was looking like he’d turned a corner and returned to his past MVP-level form. After hitting a decent but unspectacular .254/.362/.407 over 2025 plate appearances during the 2020-23 seasons, Yelich broke out to a .315/.406/.504 slash line and 11 home runs over 315 PA in 2024 (translating to a 151 wRC+). A .366 BABIP certainly contributed to that success, but several above-average secondary metrics indicated that Yelich’s big year was no fluke.
Yelich, the Brewers, and Milwaukee fans might wonder forever how a healthy Yelich might’ve changed the club’s postseason fortunes, as the Brew Crew were eliminated in heartbreaking fashion during the NL Wild Card Series. The Brewers have made the playoffs in six of the last seven seasons, but haven’t won a postseason round since 2018, Yelich’s first season in the organization.
Missing out on this playoff run was painful both physically and emotionally for Yelich, but he was left with no choice since “my body stopped working, basically, so I had to have surgery. It wasn’t like I could finish the season or not, or get surgery….If I could’ve finished the year I would’ve loved to have tried to finish the year, but the silver lining in having to get surgery then was like I’d for sure be ready for Opening Day. So that was a good thing, and fortunately there weren’t many setbacks in the rehab process or anything like that.”
Yelich’s spectacular 2018-19 seasons led the team to lock him up on a new contract in advance of the 2020 campaign. With seven years and $188.5MM in new money added in that extension, it was the biggest contract in Brewers history, and a sizable vote of confidence from an organization not known for big spending. The outfielder’s modest production in the four seasons following the extension raised some concerns, but Yelich’s 2024 performance renews some hope that the 33-year-old can still reach an elite level.
Yelich spent 402 1/3 innings in left field last season but also got a good chunk of DH time. Milwaukee has enough outfield depth that Yelich should again receive plenty of work as a designated hitter, in order to give him a partial rest day while still keeping his bat in the lineup.