Christian Yelich
United StatesChristian Yelich is an American professional baseball player. As of the 2021 season, he is playing for the Milwaukee Brewers of the Major League Baseball. He attended West Lake and was drafted from high school by the Florida Marlins during the 2010 June Amateur Draft. His rookie year was during the 2013 season. As of the July 2021 stats, Yelich has a batting average of 0.294. Teams he has played for aside from the Brewers include the Miami Marlins. He was also part of the team that represented the United States in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
Yelich was born Christian Stephen Yelich on December 5, 1991. He is the great-grandchild of Fred Gehrke, a former professional baseball player for the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams. He also had an uncle who played for UCLA and two of his brothers have played in the minor leagues. As a kid, he was a fan of the Yankees and the Dodgers. Nicknamed ‘Yeli’, he attended Westlake High School. In his junior year, he had a batting average of 0.489 and 0.451 in his senior year. Before graduating, he was named to the Max Preps Second Team All-American. He was recruited out of high school by the University of Miami to play for the Hurricanes.
In 2010, he was picked by the Miami Marlins during the 2010 MLB Draft. He was their 23rd overall pick. He signed with them in August. He then went on to play for the Gulf Coast League Marlins and the Greensboro Grasshoppers. In 2011 and 2012, he was named the Minor League Player of the Year for the Marlins. He was promoted to play for the Jacksonville Suns in July 2013.
He won a Gold Glove Award in 2014. This made him the youngest player for the franchise to win this award. In March 2015, he and the Marlins agreed to a seven-year contract. It was worth $49.57 million. He was placed on the injured list twice in 2015. In 2018, Yelich was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Brinson, Diaz, Yamamoto, and Harrison. In the same year, he was named to the MLB All-Star Game.
In 2019, Yelich became the first in the history of his team to have hit 30 home runs prior to the All-Star break. He was supposed to play in the Home Run Derby, but he had to be replaced by Matt Chapman. He also fractured his kneecap in September 2019. In 2020, he signed a contract extension with the Brewers.
Professional Career Highlights and Awards
- 2011, 2012 - Marlin’s Minor League
- 2014 - Gold Glove Award
- 2016, 2018, 2019 - Silver Slugger
- 2017 All-World Baseball Classic Team
- 2018, 2019 - All-Star
- 2018 - NL MVP
- 2018, 2019 - NL Hank Aaron Award
- 2018, 2019 - NL batting champion
- 2018 - Hit for the cycle
- 2019 - 30–30 club
- 2019 - All-MLB First Team