Christian Yelich facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Christian Yelich |
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Yelich with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2024
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| Milwaukee Brewers – No. 22 | ||||||||||||||
| Left fielder | ||||||||||||||
| Born: December 5, 1991 Thousand Oaks, California, U.S. |
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| debut | ||||||||||||||
| July 23, 2013, for the Miami Marlins | ||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics (through 2024 season) |
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| Batting average | .287 | |||||||||||||
| Hits | 1,590 | |||||||||||||
| Home runs | 204 | |||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 748 | |||||||||||||
| Stolen bases | 205 | |||||||||||||
| Teams | ||||||||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | ||||||||||||||
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Medals
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Christian Stephen Yelich (born December 5, 1991) is an American professional baseball player. He plays as a left fielder for the Milwaukee Brewers in Major League Baseball (MLB). Before joining the Brewers, he played for the Miami Marlins.
The Marlins picked Yelich in the first round of the 2010 MLB draft. He started playing in MLB for the Marlins in 2013. Later, in 2018, he was traded to the Brewers. Christian Yelich has been chosen for the MLB All-Star team three times. He has also won the Silver Slugger Award three times. In 2014, he won a Gold Glove Award for his great defense. In 2018, he was named the National League's Most Valuable Player. He also led the National League in batting average twice.
Contents
Baseball Career
Early Years
Christian Yelich was born in Thousand Oaks, California. He went to Westlake High School. He was a very good baseball player in high school. In his junior year, he hit for a very high average of .489. In his senior year, he hit nine home runs. He was named one of the top high school players in the country.
Yelich was offered a scholarship to play college baseball for the Miami Hurricanes baseball team.
Professional Start
Miami Marlins Team
The Miami Marlins chose Christian Yelich as the 23rd player overall in the 2010 MLB draft. He signed a contract with the Marlins for $1.7 million. Yelich started playing in the minor leagues. He played for the Gulf Coast League Marlins and then the Greensboro Grasshoppers. He was named the Marlins' best minor league player in both 2011 and 2012.
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On July 23, 2013, the Marlins called Yelich up to play in Major League Baseball. He had been playing for the Double-A Jacksonville Suns.
In 2014, Yelich hit for a .284 batting average. He also stole 21 bases. He won a Gold Glove Award for being the best defensive left fielder. This made him the youngest Marlins player to win this award. He also set a team record for how well he fielded in left field.
In March 2015, Yelich signed a big contract with the Marlins. He had some injuries that year, including a back strain and a bruised knee. Despite the injuries, he finished the 2015 season with a .300 batting average.
In 2016, Yelich continued to improve his hitting. He hit three doubles in one game against the San Francisco Giants, which tied a team record. He played as a starting outfielder with Marcell Ozuna and Giancarlo Stanton. He sometimes played in center field when other players were injured.
Milwaukee Brewers Team
On January 25, 2018, the Marlins traded Yelich to the Milwaukee Brewers. In return, the Marlins received four other players. Yelich was chosen for the 2018 MLB All-Star Game. He was hitting .285 with 11 home runs and 11 stolen bases at the time.
On August 29, Yelich did something amazing: he hit for the cycle against the Cincinnati Reds. This means he hit a single, a double, a triple, and a home run all in the same game. He even got six hits in that game! A few days later, he hit his first career grand slam. Then, on September 17, he hit for the cycle again, also against the Cincinnati Reds! He was only the fifth player in MLB history to hit two cycles in one season. He was the first to do it against the same team.
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Yelich had an incredible 2018 season. He finished with a .326 batting average, 36 home runs, and 110 RBIs. He won the National League batting title, which was the first for a Brewers player. He almost won the Triple Crown, which means leading the league in batting average, home runs, and RBIs. He also won the Hank Aaron Award for being the best offensive player in the National League. On November 16, Yelich was named the Most Valuable Player of the National League.
On March 31, 2019, Yelich made history again. He became one of only six players in MLB history to hit a home run in each of his team's first four games of the season.
By July 1, 2019, Yelich was the first Brewers player to hit 30 home runs before the All-Star Break. He was picked for the Home Run Derby, but he had to pull out because of a back injury. Sadly, his 2019 season ended early on September 10. He hit a foul ball that fractured his right kneecap.
Even with the injury, Yelich had another fantastic year in 2019. He won his second National League batting title, hitting .329. He also hit 44 home runs and stole 30 bases. This made him part of the 30–30 club, meaning he had at least 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in one season. He was the first National League player since the 1920s to lead the league in batting average and slugging percentage for two years in a row. He won the NL Hank Aaron Award again and finished second in the MVP voting.
After the 2019 season, Yelich became the only player in MLB history to have two seasons in a row with a batting average of .325 or higher, 35 or more home runs, and 20 or more stolen bases.
In March 2020, Yelich signed a huge nine-year contract with the Brewers. It was the biggest contract in the team's history. In the shorter 2020 season, he hit 12 home runs.
In 2021, Yelich had more back problems. This caused him to miss several weeks of games.
Yelich hit his third career cycle on May 11, 2022. He became the sixth player in MLB history to do this. He was also the first player to hit three cycles against the same team, the Cincinnati Reds.
In 2024, Yelich was playing very well. However, he was placed on the injured list on July 24 due to a back issue. On August 15, he announced he would have back surgery. The team officially ended his season on September 8, hoping he would return in 2025.
Playing for Team USA
Yelich played for the United States national baseball team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. This is a big international tournament where countries compete in baseball. After the tournament, he was named to the All-World Baseball Classic team. This means he was one of the best players in the whole tournament.
About Christian Yelich
Christian Yelich is the oldest child of Stephen and Alecia Yelich. His great-grandfather, Fred Gehrke, was a famous American football player. Christian has two brothers. His brother Collin played minor league baseball. His brother Cameron is in the United States Marine Corps.
Christian Yelich's family background is interesting. His great-grandfather on his father's side was from Serbia. Christian was baptized in the Serbian Orthodox Church. His grandfather on his mother's side was Japanese.
Yelich appeared as himself in an episode of the TV show Magnum P.I. in 2019. In the show, he hit a home run off a character named Orville "Rick" Wright. He also once invited famous football player Baker Mayfield to batting practice with the Brewers.
When he was growing up, Yelich was a fan of both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees baseball teams.
See also
In Spanish: Christian Yelich para niños
- List of Major League Baseball single-game hits leaders
- List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle
- List of Milwaukee Brewers award winners and All-Stars
- Miami Marlins award winners and league leaders
