Brewers' William Contreras Update Emerges After Removal From Lineup

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Across his last 12 appearances, the 28-year-old backstop has posted just a .126 batting average, .291 on-base percentage, .518 OPS, one home run and five RBIs. That is not what Brewers fans are accustomed to seeing from a two-time Silver Slugger and three-time All-Star.

Contreras was removed from the lineup ahead of Thursday’s series finale against the Seattle Mariners. Instead, Gary Sanchez drew the start behind the plate.

While Sanchez routinely starts behind the dish, usually that entails Contreras sliding into the designated hitter spot for the day.

Instead, manager Pat Murphy elected to go with Christian Yelich as the designated hitter and moved Contreras to the bench entirely. His removal was simply to give him a day off rather than anything injury-related (h/t Hunter Baumgardt of Fox Sports 920).

Contreras should still be available off the bench if Milwaukee needs a pinch hitter, and given that it is a day game and Contreras caught just hours ago on Wednesday, getting him off his feet makes sense.

Given his recent struggles at the plate, the extra rest may not be a bad idea either. He will look to return to the starting nine for Friday’s series opener against the Atlanta Braves in what should be one of the most compelling series of the weekend across the entire league.