Milwaukee Brewers Slugger Jake Bauers Is Finally Reaching His Potential

It’s almost unfair being labeled a “top MLB prospect.” Huge expectations get placed on a player with said title and a litany of factors, from non-linear progression to injuries to poor organizational development, can lead to disappointment in the eyes of others, unfair as it can be.

Take the case of Jake Bauers. The California native joined the pro ranks when he was selected by the San Diego Padres in the seventh round of the 2013 draft out of Marina High School in Huntington Beach.

Like many minor leaguers, he’d find himself with a new organization before even reaching the majors. Just over a year after being drafted, the Padres would send Bauers to the Tampa Bay Rays as part of a huge swap that, in part, brought outfielder Wil Myers to San Diego.

Bauers would be named a top 30 Rays prospect by MLB Pipeline in 2015 and he would start working his way further up the ranks. By 2018, the year he made his MLB debut, Pipeline would slot him as a top-five prospect for Tampa.

In his first taste of the majors, Bauers would slash .201/.316/.384 with 22 doubles, 11 homers, 48 RBI, and a 97 wRC+ in 96 games. That’s arguably not a horrible line for a 22-year-old rookie. For a top five team prospect, though, many were expecting more, fair or not.

After this, Bauers’ career would take several turns. From 2019 to 2023, he would spend time as a member of the Guardians, Mariners, Reds, and Yankees, seeing time at the Major League level for all but Cincinnati but never reaching that potential that came attached to top prospect status.

Eventually, the Yankees would choose to move on from Bauers too when they traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers ahead of the 2024 season. His current team, it’s the only one with which he’s played in parts of three Major League seasons.

And even that tenure has come with its fair share of ups and downs. After a subpar first season in Milwaukee, he would be outrighted to the minors only to be brought back on a minor league contract in the offseason and added back to the roster for 2025.

This was the first time Bauers started to show a glimpse of what he could truly become. He’d set new career highs with a .235 average, .353 on base percentage, a 114 wRC+, and a 0.8 fWAR across 86 games.

Trending upward for the first time in his career, the Brewers would make sure early that he would be a part of the 2026 squad. Of the team’s seven arbitration-eligible players, he’d be the only one signed to a contract, one year for $2.6 million, ahead of November’s non-tender deadline.

That signing is paying off in a major way.

Brewers slugger Jake Bauers is raking in 2026 and finally reaching his potential

In his first two seasons in Milwaukee, Bauers would have a habit of going on some short hot streaks in between his cold ones. When he was on his game and slugging homers, the Brewer faithful would grace him with the nickname “Rake” Bauers.

This season, Bauers has been “on” much more often than he’s been “off.” And with that, “Rake” Bauers doesn’t appear to be going anywhere any time soon.

As a surprise to many, Bauers has been one of the most consistent offensive threats for the Brewers all season. 51 games into the season, the now-30-year-old is slashing career bests at .276/.356/.495 and by far has his best wRC+ at 137, which is also second-best amongst the team’s qualifying hitters.

Bauers’ 10 home runs and 36 RBI not only both lead the team, they are two and eight away from tying his career highs, respectively, and we just started the month of June. And if not for his performance so far, the Brewers might not be where they are.

Jake Bauers DEAD CENTER BOMB!

His 10th homer of the year raises his wRC+ to 143 💪 pic.twitter.com/tkgjqhpUpq

— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) June 3, 2026

Milwaukee started the 2026 season with star outfielder Jackson Chourio (hand) on the injured list. Just one game into the season, first baseman Andrew Vaughn (hand) joined him. In mid April, former MVP Christian Yelich (groin) made it a trio of sluggers on the IL.

The Brewers not only needed Bauers to handle a bulk of the workload at first base, they hoped he would pick up some of the slack on offense. He did just that, and has continued to do so ever since.

But why the sudden change? How does a player who has been just above average at his best and way below average at his worst suddenly become a top offensive weapon on his team?

It starts with plate discipline. Bauers is striking out just 22.9% percent of the time this year. That would easily be the lowest mark of his career, well below his 28.4% career rate, and a far cry from the 34%+ that he struck out in both 2023 and 2024.

That comes from better swing decisions. When comparing this year to last year, Bauers has seen his strike looking rate actually increase from 27.3% to 29.4% and his strike swinging rate decrease from 19.2% to 17.5%. He’s not just swinging at pitches in the zone, he’s waiting to swing at the right pitches in the zone.

And swing at the right pitch is exactly what he’s done. Bauers is fouling off fewer strikes, dropping from 29.9% to 26.1% year over year, and putting more in play, jumping from 23.5% to 27.0%.

When you swing at the right pitches, you hit them harder as well. Bauers is at a career high 52.7% hard hit rate on the year, well above his career 40.0% rate and in the 95th percentile in MLB. His average exit velocity of 92.0 mph would also be a career high and is in the 88th percentile.

Now combine all that with an offense full of players who can break out at any moment and it’s easy to see why the Brewers are cruising once again. They have the fifth best offense at 5.03 runs per game, are tied for third in MLB with a +93 run differential, and lead the NL Central by 5.5 games.

It can take any number of years for a former top prospect to reach their full potential. The Brewers must be ecstatic that Bauers is starting to do so as a member of their team.