Chicago Cubs: Will the Twitter feud with Darvish end in Yelich being all smiles?
In addition to the increase in production engendered by the move to Milwaukee, Yelich also produced some curiously disparate home and away splits this past season. It was the talk of baseball early in the season and over the course of the year, the talk subsided. What didn’t subside a whole lot though, is the difference in his numbers.
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In 65 games on the road in 2019, Yelich put up an excellent slash line of .312/.409/.597 with 17 home runs and 38 RBI. That would seem to suggest that regardless of anything else, Yelich has absolutely taken it to a new level since joining the Brewers and entering his prime.
The problem is, if sign-stealing is a reality for Yelich and the Brewers, home is where it would be easier to set a system up. The slash line in 65 games at Miller Park for Yelich was a mind-boggling .347/.451/.740 to go along with 27 home runs and 59 RBI. For what it’s worth, he also struck out less and walked more at home.
Again, this could just be explained away (to a point) by the fact that most players tend to like playing at home and get used to the sight-lines at home vs. a bunch of road ballparks they don’t visit nearly as often. Except… except. Those numbers are crazy.
While it’s hard to come to a definitive answer about whether or not Yelich did anything wrong in the video or in general at this point, if you freeze the video between the 11 and 13 second marks, it’s very clear Yelich’s eyes turn towards something in left-center field. It may just be a freak thing or coincidence, but Darvish stepped off immediately following the look and some fans even remembered that it looked a bit odd.