In our best voting result yet, outfielder Sal Frelick comes in fourth on our MVBrewers list for 2025. The BCB community voted for Frelick with nine votes in The Feed, barely better than Christian Yelich, who received eight votes (FWIW, I was one of nine who voted for Frelick). Jackson Chourio received three votes, while Quinn Priester and Caleb Durbin each received one vote.
The 25-year-old Frelick posted a career-best 3.0 bWAR season in 2025 while posting career-best numbers at the plate. In 142 games, he hit .288/.351/.405 (111 OPS+) with 12 home runs, 63 RBIs, 76 runs and 19 steals. He also did the impossible: his walk rate (7.4% in 2024 to 7.9% in 2025), his strikeout rate (14.9% in 2024 to 13.5% in 2025), his xBA (.246 in 2024 to .256 in 2025) and his batting average (.259 in 2024 to .288 in 2025).
All of that means he’s developed about the same as the No. 2 player on this list, Brice Turang. He has improved his offensive numbers while continuing to provide speed and great defense. After winning a Gold Glove in right field in 2024, Frelick was unable to repeat in 2025 as Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres accepted the award (and also received the platinum glove).
The former first-round pick out of Boston College has an interesting Baseball Savant page, in that there’s a lot of blue, but also a lot of red. That blue isn’t necessarily a bad thing in this case, as Frelick’s plate approach focuses on contact and getting on base rather than power. While he ranks in the bottom 10% for xwOBA, xSLG, average exit velocity, barrel velocity, hard-hit velocity and bat speed, he is in the top 10% in quadratic velocity, whiff velocity and strikeout rate.
As mentioned above, he is also elite in the field and on the basepaths. He ranked in the 90th percentile with six outs above average in 2025, and he also ranks in the top third of players in arm value and arm strength. His sprint speed of 47.3 mph is in the 94th percentile.
Not particularly known for his offensive prowess, Frelick’s best games at the plate included a three-hit day (including a home run) in an extra-inning loss to the Rockies in late June, a four-hit day in an extra-inning win over the Red Sox in May, and a three-hit day in an extra-inning win over the Cardinals in September. He had another four-hit day (including a double and a triple) against the Reds in early April, although the Crew lost that game 11-7.
Defensively, Frelick finished the season with 296 putouts and 10 assists, including a pair of double plays, coming against the Reds (in the same early April game mentioned above) and against the Red Sox (the day before the game mentioned above). Oh, and let’s not forget the double play he led off in Game 1 of the NLCS, which will go down as one of the craziest plays in MLB history (let alone the MLB playoff).
Another great season for Milwaukee’s youngsters. Let’s see if they can keep this up in 2026.
We continue this ranking on Friday with our number 5 player. Visit The Feed to weigh in on the vote.
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