![\"All-Star](\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_5375,h_3023,x_0,y_0\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/fastball\/01j1z7cz5xqpgxxmw1h9.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe All-MLB team is a relatively new honor, handed out for the first time in 2019, but even if it had existed for longer, it\u2019s possible Contreras would still have been the first Brewers catcher ever to get it.<\/p>\n
This season was only the second time ever a Brewer has led all MLB catchers in Baseball Reference\u2019s version of Wins Above Replacement, with Jonathan Lucroy posting the other such season in 2014.<\/p>\n
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For much of Brewers\u2019 history the catching position has been a revolving door of mediocre performances: From B.J. Surhoff\u2019s final game as a Brewer in 1995 through Jonathan Lucroy\u2019s first in 2010 the Crew had 12 different catchers behind the plate for 100 games in a span of 15 seasons.<\/p>\n
In fact, after just two seasons in Milwaukee Baseball Reference already grades Contreras as the sixth best catcher in Brewers franchise history with 8.6 Wins Above Replacement.<\/p>\n
Here are the five players ahead of him, including three he could realistically catch in the first half of 2025:<\/p>\n
Jonathan Lucroy, 17.3 WAR<\/strong><\/p>\n Lucroy is only second on the Brewers\u2019 all-time list in games caught with 725 but in terms of quality he nearly lapped the field. Over parts of seven seasons in Milwaukee Lucroy was a solid hitter with a career .284 batting average, .342 on-base and .436 slugging and set a Brewers franchise record with 53 doubles in 2014, but he was more often praised for his work defensively.<\/p>\n Lucroy was solid in the traditional elements of catcher defense (blocking pitches, throwing out baserunners) but was also one of the early standouts in pitch framing, receiving the ball in such a way that it was more likely to be called a strike. Baseball Prospectus estimates that in 2011 alone Lucroy\u2019s pitch receiving saved over 40 runs.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not factored into Baseball Reference\u2019s assessment of Lucroy, but even without that element he\u2019s the best Brewers catcher ever by a wide margin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The All-MLB team is a relatively new honor, handed out for the first time in 2019, but even if it had existed for longer, it\u2019s possible Contreras… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n