Brewers' Yelich ready for 'fresh start' after 'all around terrible' 2020
MILWAUKEE - The 2020 baseball season had so many oddities, with a shortened season and no fans. For Christian Yelich, it was a season to forget. This year, he's ready to bounce back.
"It’s a fresh start. It’s a new year," said Yelich.
The start to spring training in 2021 is looking a bit different for Yelich than it did in 2020.
"Spring training last year was a little bit weird because it wasn't your normal offseason because of rehab and all that, so probably didn't come in exactly where I usually would be if I was able to be healthy and do the same workout and baseball routine before spring training," said Yelich.
He comes into this season seemingly refreshed after changing some things up in the offseason, which included spending a lot of time in Nashville with Andy Haines, Milwaukee Brewers' hitting coach.
(Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
RELATED: Check out the new and improved FOX Sports app
"It’s a different environment," said Yelich. "You know, you can really work on some things. You can really just take your time and do whatever, so that’s what we wanted to do. Thought it was a productive trip."
Production was something that Yelich didn’t have a lot of in the 60-game season.
"I thought it was pretty much all around terrible," said Yelich.
Hitting just .205 with 76 strikeouts in 200 at-bats made for a frustrating year. At times, his defense also fell off.
"Can’t change it now," said Yelich. "Can’t do anything about it. I tell you guys every year that good or bad, the previous year doesn’t really mean anything. You can’t do anything about it."
However, to his teammate Lorenzo Cain, it looks like he did do something about it.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX6 News app for iOS or Android
"He’s actually beefed up a little bit," said Cain. "Like, you’ve been really hitting the weights this offseason, so in that aspect, you can already see that last year bothered him to a point where he needed to do whatever possible to make it right."
The struggle could be a motivating factor this season, although Yelich isn’t quite letting anyone know for sure.
"I feel like you need to be motivated every year," said Yelich. "If you’re not motivated, stay home. Kind of my opinion."
Now, he and Cain will be leaned on for motivation with the void in the clubhouse due to the departure of Ryan Braun.
The Brewers open the season at home on April 1 against the Twins.