Second baseman Brice Turang was, by most measures, the Brewers’ best hitter in 2025. Turang was named to the All-MLB Second Team after posting 5.6 bWAR and slashing .288/.359/.435, all career highs. His batting average and OPS+ were also both tied for best among Brewers regulars (with the exception of Andrew Vaughn, who had less than half the plate appearances of Turang, Contreras, Yelich, Frelick, etc.). Turang has absolutely destroyed his previous high-water marks for home runs, OPS, batting average, RBI, and virtually every other relevant hitting stat.
A big part of the reason Turang’s season stats look so good was his performance in August. Turang became NL Player of the Month after hitting .343 with a 1.095 (!!) OPS and 10 homeruns. Ten home runs are the most a second baseman has hit in a single month since Marcus Semien hit 12 in September 2021. It’s also more home runs than Turang hit in each of his first two seasons with Milwaukee. Turang sobered up a bit in September, but still posted significantly above-average numbers (.835 OPS, good for fourth on the Brewers for the month of September).
Then October rolled around. Turang hit .114 with a .391 OPS in nine postseason games. He had two hits in Game 1 of the NLDS, but had only two hits total in the last eight games. One of those hits was a 400-foot home run that gave the Brewers a much-needed insurance run in Game 5 of the NLDS. The other hit (79.2 exit velocity) was a Yoshinobu Yamamoto cutter that cut Turang into left field for a single. Other than those two at bats, Turang was hitless after Game 1 of the NLDS.
I know most of Brewer’s regulars struggled to make hard contact in the Dodgers series. However, Turang posted the lowest OPS among the six Brewers regulars who had at least 20 at-bats. The only Brewers with a lower OPS than Turang in the 2025 playoffs were Brandon Lockridge (two plate appearances), Isaac Collins (10 plate appearances) and Joey Ortiz (who struggled at the plate for much of the season).
Since writing about the Brewers, I watched almost every game last year. Watching the NLCS, it seemed like Turang was trying harder to hit home runs compared to his at-bats in August. His swing seemed (to me at least) like it was taking a little longer to build up more power, rather than focusing on making solid contact. That said, I haven’t really gone back to watch the August film and compare it to the NLCS.
Has Turang’s swing changed from August to October? Players sometimes slump at the plate, especially with a sample size of only nine games. Turang was also not the only brewer who had a difficult October. Was Turang’s slump due to a change in batting technique? If so, what does he need to do to remain a formidable presence at the plate next season?
How was Turang’s weight distributed?
First, let’s take a look at what Turang’s swing looked like this year. Turang changed a few things about his swing heading into 2025, but the biggest change was in his weight distribution. As summarized in an August video on MLB Network, Turang’s position in 2024 (on the left) was fairly even. In 2025 (on the right), Turang started with more weight on his back foot.
When hitting a baseball, there is a weight transfer from the back foot to the front foot. Many hitters start with an evenly distributed weight, shifting their weight back (“loading”) as the pitcher comes up and then forward as they swing. Turang’s position for 2025 is a little more “pre-loaded”; in other words, his weight is already on his back foot, so he doesn’t have to shift his weight that far back before transferring his weight to his front foot.
What is the benefit of a “preloaded” posture? For some hitters, standing front-loaded helps them simplify the batting motion and time the ball better, allowing them to make contact more often. Turang’s main statistical flaw at the plate before 2025 wasn’t a lack of contact, but a lack of power. He often hit the ball while already standing on his front foot. By pre-loading his stance, Turang was able to keep his weight on his back foot for longer. Instead of transferring his weight at the moment of contact, 2024 Turang would have already transferred most of his weight before making contact, making it more difficult to control the ball.
Now let’s look at a photo of Turang’s home run against the Cubs in Game 5 of the NLDS.
Although the result of the at-bat was a home run, Turang’s weight distribution immediately after contact is much more similar to 2024. He is still slightly more on his back foot than in 2024, but he is much straighter and noticeably leans less on his back foot than in the regular season.
Other possible explanations for why Turang struggled in the play-offs:
Is Turang trying too hard to hit home runs?
I wouldn’t classify Turang’s swing as a prominent uppercut this year. Although Turang has increased its average launch angle (8.6 degrees) by about a degree this year, that is still a lot flatter than the average in the Major League. His average launch angle ranked 159th steepest among 175 qualified hitters. If you’re more in favor of the eye test, check out this home run from March:
Cal Raleigh ranked first in baseball with an average launch angle of 25.2. For comparison, take a look at one of his home runs. The pitch is a bit low in the zone, but not below the zone! That’s an uppercut if I’ve ever seen one.
According to Statcast, in the Dodgers series (where he had just one hit), Turang posted a maximum launch angle of 32 and put more balls in play with negative launch angles than with positive ones. Multiple Brewers (Jake Bauers, Isaac Collins and William Contreras, to name a few) posted launch angles over 60. So no, I wouldn’t say Turang was trying too hard to hit the ball in the air. Launch angle doesn’t always tell the whole story, but it doesn’t appear he had a more prominent uppercut in October.
Has Turang’s swing become less efficient?
Turang has never had an incredibly compact swing – his swing has a leg kick (more pronounced this year), a high stance and a pronounced one-handed execution. However, Turang has historically been short (efficient) in the offensive zone. He has the big leg kick and starts with his hands high, but he also does a good job of keeping his bat in the zone, keeping his back elbow close to his side and staying compact/quick into his follow-through.
Turang’s swing is best described as rotation (as opposed to linearthat focuses on the arms, wrists and hands as the primary source of power). Rotational hitting can help smaller hitters maximize their power by relying on the hips and core to generate power. Again, this is why the weight transfer material is important. A guy like Aaron Judge could theoretically be more inefficient with his swing mechanics because he’s big enough and strong enough to still hit one out. Turang doesn’t have much room for error.
Another aspect of rotational hitting is the timing between the lower body rotation and the swing. If your upper body lags too far behind your lower body/hip rotation, you lose strength. The same applies if you hit the ball without fully rotating your hips.
Let’s look at an example: a home run that Turang hit against the Diamondbacks on August 27. The field is inside, allowing Turang to keep his elbow inside, spin into the ball and hit it over the right-field fence. He doesn’t leave his hands behind. His swing is in line with his lower body and explodes through the ball in one motion.
This pitch is in almost the exact same location as the home run against the Cubs – again, his swing stays nice and compact through the strike zone.
Was his swing different in October? Let’s go back and look at that home run in Game 5 of the NLDS.
His swing looks basically the same as it did on those home runs in October. His elbow is retracted. He hits the ball while his hips are rotating, not before or after. Aside from his weight distribution (as described above), this is a great swing from Turang.
Now let’s look at a few times when Turang didn’t make solid contact to see if his swing changed at all. The first example I thought of was his RBI fielder’s choice in Game 4 of the NLCS on Dodgers reliever Anthony Banda. This at bat was a good example of situational hitting, because you obviously want to put the ball in play with a runner on third base and less than two outs. It wasn’t a hard hit ball either. According to Statcast, Turang’s grounder had an exit velocity of 65.8 mph. This is what Turang looked like when he made contact:
Another example is that of Turang strikeout to end Game 1 of the NLCS. He swung under this pitch (because it was about a foot above the strike zone), but at the moment he would have made contact, his shape looked like this:
On both, his hips are in the same position as his home runs from August. His elbow is also not noticeably further out in either clip. This tells me that his swing remains relatively consistent. In short, I wouldn’t say his swing got significantly longer or loopier. His mechanics don’t seem like the most plausible explanation for why he struggled in the playoffs.
The one thing I notice is that Banda’s pitch against Turang lands in the outer third of the strike zone. Turang finally pulled this ball weakly to the right side. Any hitting coach will tell you to go with the ball. If someone throws you an onside throw, try to stay on it and hit it to the opposite field. I can’t say for sure without the side angle, but it looks like Turang is standing too far out on his front foot (inefficient weight transfer) as he tries to pull the ball. That, unlike his launch angles, could be a sign that Turang was trying too hard to seize power. Turang arguably has more home run power on his pull side; only five of his eighteen home runs this year they were hit to the left of the plate in center field.
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What was the reason for Turang’s rough October? A few of his at-bats indicate he’s too far forward on his front foot. A few other at-bats indicate he’s trying to pull the ball when he shouldn’t. On the other hand, his mechanics remained largely consistent from August to October. That’s a very good sign.
If I were a betting man, I’d put good money on the version of Turang we saw over the last two months of the season being here to stay. His power surge wasn’t the result of magic from the launch angle; instead, the 2025 version of Turang transfers its weight in a significantly more effective way. That, combined with his short swing, points to the durability of his new power stroke. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t get around 20 home runs again next year.
To improve his performance in 2025, Turang will need to continue to keep his weight at the point of contact and avoid trying to pull balls on the outer third of the plate. If he can do that while continuing to play the Platinum Glove-caliber defense he is capable of, Brice Turang could take the next step and become a legitimate superstar.
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