Former Guardians bust becoming valuable lineup mainstay for Brewers 

While Jakes Bauers played in 160 games for the Cleveland Guardians across two different seasons, he never made much of an impression. Sure, he hit for the cycle once, but he also hit just .218 during his time with the team. 

He looked the part in the box and on the field, but those looks never led to any success. 

But that’s changed as of late, as Bauers has blossomed into a productive first baseman in his new home with the Milwaukee Brewers. 

Jake Bauers has reinvented himself since leaving the Guardians 

Although Bauers’ transformation didn’t happen overnight (this is his third season with the Brewers), he’s been playing some of the best baseball of his life over the past 12 months. Along with posting .244/.342/.423 slashline in 114 games since the start of the 2025 season, Bauers has driven in 18 runs this year in 27 games with a .260 batting average. 

It looked like Bauers was going to be the odd man out for Milwaukee this year, but he earned an Opening Day roster spot with a ridiculous .471/.581/1.147 slashline in 13 spring training games, and he’s validated that decision with his play this season. 

One of the biggest roadblocks that Bauers seemed to run into during his time with the Guardians was consistency in how he went about his day, which Terry Francona alluded to after a 2019 season where he hit just .226 in 117 games. 

While that was the season that he hit for his aforementioned cycle, it was a bit of an underwhelming season considering the Guardians gave up Edwin Encarnación and Yandy Díaz  for him the offseason prior. 

He spent all of the 2020 season at the Guardians’ alternate site and broke camp with them in 2021 in large part to the fact he was out of minor league options. The Guardians ended up cutting bait with him after 43 uninspiring games, and he finished out the season with the Mariners. After a year in the minors in 2022, he resurfaced in 2023 with the Yankees before joining the Brewers in 2024. 

That partnership seems to be a match made in baseball heaven. The Brewers have provided him with an chance to restart his career and he’s given them production on cheap contracts (he’s earning just $2.7 million this season in final foray through arbitration). 

He’s also provided some postseason heroics in the form of a go-ahead home run against the Mets in the 2024 Wild Card Series and an opposite field shot against the Cubs in last year’s NLDS. 

While Bauers will never become the top-tier talent that he was projected to be early in his career, he seems to have carved a nice niche for himself with the small-market Brewers.

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