Andreas Vaughn could be the answer. A mid-June trade from the White Sox appeared to revive the former third overall pick. Vaughn’s disappointing career reached a low point in May, when he was demoted by Chicago after hitting .189 through the first two months of the season. The White Sox dealt him to the Brewers Aaron Civalewhich says a lot about its value at the time.
Rhys Hoskins in early July he sprained his thumb, opening the door for a Vaughn promotion. He joined the top flight club and got straight to work. Vaughn launched a three-run homer to zero Yoshinobu Yamamoto in his first at-bat with the Brewers. In July, he posted an OPS of 1.157. After hitting five home runs in 48 games with the White Sox to start the season, Vaughn left the yard five times in his first 15 games with the Brewers.
Vaughn cooled off significantly in August, dropping to .250/.320/.375. He had just six extra-base hits in 29 games. A day off in early September seemed to do Vaughn some good as he warmed up again to close out the season. The 27-year-old hit .368 with a .509 SLG over the final month of the campaign. His performance was enough to knock Hoskins off the NLDS roster. Vaughn had a solid series against the Cubs, hitting two home runs and driving in four runs. He then went 0-for-12 in a four-game NLCS sweep of the Dodgers.
Despite the hitless streak against the LA, Vaughn enters 2026 as the top candidate to hold down first base for the Brewers. The club did not end the mutual option with Hoskins, so Vaughn and Jake Bauer are the only primary first basemen on the roster. Catcher William Contreras and utility man Andruw Monasterio also have some experience in the position. It looks like Vaughn’s job will be lost, but he has a long track record of mediocrity in the MLB. Here’s how first base could play for Milwaukee in 2026…
Vaughn walks away with the job
The reason behind Vaughn’s start in Milwaukee could be as simple as a change of scenery for a former top prospect on a struggling team. However, he did make some clear improvements last season. He always hit the ball hard (46.6% career success rate), but that just hadn’t translated into much production. The man who earned 60 grades for raw power as Chicago’s top prospect never hit more than 21 home runs with the club.
Milwaukee was able to get Vaughn to turn his hard contact into better results in multiple ways. The young slugger achieved the best results last season in line drive rate (25.2%), pull rate (37.5%) and pulled air rate (18%). Those numbers are still around league average, but they are a solid improvement over Vaughn’s previous work. He also ranked in the 85th percentile in launch angle sweet spot rate and in the 92nd percentile in squared-up rate.
It wasn’t just the batted balls either. Vaughn took significant steps forward in plate discipline at Milwaukee. After shooting a career-worst 22.3% of the time with Chicago to open the year, he lowered that number to 14.6% with the Brewers. He also increased his walk rate to 9.4%. Vaughn hasn’t had a walk rate above 7% since his rookie season in 2021.
There’s a chance that July and September were the “new” Vaughn, and he’ll just be an OPS bat in the high .800s during his prime. The pedigree was clear, given his storied college career and the draft capital invested in acquiring him. It only took five years and a new house to make up for it.
Vaughn is going backwards, but the setup makes up for it
Milwaukee’s offense took a unique form in 2025. The club did not have a regular player with an OPS over .800 all season, but also had only one everyday player with a score under .700 (glove first Joey Ortiz at .593). The result was a team that finished third in scoring, behind only the Yankees and Dodgers. Isaac Collins was dealt to Kansas City, but the rest of the group should be back next season. Barring an off-season addition, a combination of Bauers, Garrett MitchellAnd Blake Perkins will fill the void left by Collins in the outfield.
The supportive offensive environment could allow Vaughn to exist in the lineup as a reasonably productive piece. That’s basically what he was in Chicago. He never really had a standout season, but his worst year with the team still resulted in a 93 wRC+. At the very least, he could form a strong platoon with Bauers at first base. Vaughn has always hit lefties, even in his White Sox days. He has a career .787 OPS against lefties, compared to .702 against righties.
This outcome hasn’t bothered Milwaukee in the past, as they’ve gotten by with decent contributions from the likes of Hoskins, Rowdy TellezAnd Daniel Vogelbach. Vaughn will hit free agency after the 2027 season. Milwaukee could ride this out for a reasonable price and let him walk when the time comes. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz expects Vaughn to make $7.8 million in arbitration this year.
Tyler Blackcome down
Vaughn wasn’t unplayable until May of last season. That struggle briefly returned to the Brewers in August. A player suffering a shock after moving from the basement to a competitive club and then returning to previous form would certainly not be an unheard of outcome.
A Vaughn flameout would likely lead to another opportunity for Black. The 25-year-old has had solid results in the minors, but has played just 23 games in the majors. Black struggled in his brief debut in 2024, but played just a handful of games with the Brewers last season.
There are questions about Black’s ability to consistently make contact at the highest level. He also might not be a long-term defensive player at first base (or anywhere else, for that matter). It looks like Milwaukee needs to exhaust Black as a possibility before it’s too late. He still has one minor league option. He is already in his mid-twenties. MLB.com Black was ranked fourth among Brewers prospects as recently as 2024. He had a 117 wRC+ at Triple-A that year. He has shown enough to earn an extended look in the major leagues.
If it’s not Black waiting in the wings, maybe it is Luke Adams? The 21-year-old reached Double-A at the end of last season. In 2025, he posted a stellar 157 wRC+ across three minor league levels. Adams kept it going in the Arizona Fall League, posting an OPS of 1.039 in 16 games. MLB.com has Adams at No. 8 in Milwaukee’s rankings heading into next season. He could be next if Vaughn falters and Black doesn’t get the nod.
Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images
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