In 2005 expectations were through the roof for a cluster of Brewers rookies tasked with guiding the Brewers back to the the post-season.
Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, JJ Hardy and Corey Hart were all rookies that season playing in front of fan base that was starved of a winner.
Three years later – in 2008 – the Brewers ended their 26-year playoff drought.
By the end of their careers, Fielder, Weeks, Hardy and Hart combined for 11 all-star appearances and three gold gloves.
The youth movement is once again in place in Milwaukee with a new cluster of rookies whom big things are expected.
Maybe it’s because the Brewers have been winning. Maybe it’s because a return trip to the post-season is the expectation versus a dream. The buzz for Garrett Mitchell, Joey Wiemer, Brice Turang and Sal Frelick is not what it was for the crew that impacted the lineup in 2005, but that doesn’t mean their impact will be any less significant.
Mitchell, Turang and Wiemer are already showing a flare for the dramatic at the major league level.
Wiemer hit a double on the first Major League pitch he saw and threw out a runner at second with a missile from right field in his first career game in Milwaukee.
Turang’s first Major league home run was a grand slam and his glove is Hardy-esque.
Mitchell already has a walk-off hit on his resume from his brief stint with the Brewers in 2022. Power, speed, charisma – Mitchell has it all, and Frelick will join the group at some point this season.
If you were a Brewers fan in 2005, Fielder, Weeks, Hardy and Hart were household names.
Regarding the current crop of Brewers rookies, I think Craig Counsell said it best when he said, “go buy their jerseys”.
