The Milwaukee Brewers have had Jake Bauers around since 2024 but, suddenly, he's become one of the premier players on this team.

Bauers, 30, is a left-handed batter who played on four teams in five seasons prior to coming to Milwaukee. He didn't play at all in the big leagues in 2020 and 2022, but he's having a career year in 2026 and his power is undeniable.

Bauers set his career-high home run record back on Friday, June 12, and now he went deep again against the Cincinnati Reds.

With 15 homers on the year, Bauers is on an incredible heater. Remember, he had just 19 home runs combined in his first 485 at-bats with the team these past two seasons. Here in 2026, he's hit 15 home runs in 250 at-bats.

Time and time again, the Brewers are able to turn crumbs into crumb cake, and that's no different with the California native.

Bauers hit 11 homers during his first MLB season in 2018. He then hit 12 home runs the year after but didn't do much of anything in 2021 or 2023. Upon his Brewers debut in 2024, he smashed 12 and tacked on seven last season.

Bauers currently has 73 career homers, but just over 20% of those have come from this season. He's doing the unthinkable, and his numbers are reflecting it.

The 30-year-old is slashing .272/.377/.508, all of which are good for career highs. If that's not impressive enough, then he's also on pace to reach a new career high with his .885 OPS and his 1.7 WAR is by far the highest it's ever been. Previously, it's never been over 1.0, but it's been as low as -0.9.

Of course, Brewers fans remember this guy has a pair of homers in just 19 postseason at-bats with the team. He's not boom or bust either which further adds to how incredible his turnaround has been.

When the league least expects it, the Brewers find someone to step in and fill whatever void they need. In this case, it's Bauers who is fighting with Andrew Vaughn for at-bats as both have shattered expectations.

Bauers' numbers on Baseball Savant are extremely red which means he's doing something right. Overall, he's in the top 90% percentile for his average exit velocity, hard-hit%, bat speed, and BB%. Sure enough, even when he's not hitting homers, he's drawing walks at a historically high rate (13.4%).

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