Spring crash course was just what William Contreras needed to get up to speed behind the plate

The bat is going to be there in the end – there’s little doubt about that.

It was all the other stuff that William Contreras did this spring that has the Milwaukee Brewers excited about what’s to come for their new catcher.

For the six weeks or so leading into Thursday’s 4-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field the 25-year-old was on a crash course in Arizona consisting of, in no particular order, becoming familiar with and then catching an entirely new pitching staff, tightening up his defense and receiving a refresher course in pitch framing.

Overwhelming at times? Probably.

But in the end it was mission accomplished as Contreras now takes the reins as the Brewers’ most promising long-term option behind the plate since Jonathan Lucroy was first establishing himself about a decade ago.

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“I thought William had a great camp,” manager Craig Counsell said earlier in the week. “I loved watching the way he handled himself.

“He kept himself really quiet the first couple of weeks and soaked everything in. He was a complete sponge. He really put it on himself to connect with the starters; he knows he’s going to have a big role with those guys and have to understand them. I thought by the end of camp he had completely established trust with those guys as well.

“It’s not an old group, but a group that has been in the same place for a while and has had success, so they certainly have a prescribed way they want to do things. He figured that out quickly, added his own little touch and has formed a great connection with those guys. Then he put in all the work.

“Camp couldn't have gone any better for William for me.”

Revolving door at catcher recently for the Brewers

Since the Brewers traded Lucroy back in 2016, catcher had been something of a revolving door for Milwaukee with Manny Piña, Jett Bandy, Stephen Vogt, Erik Kratz, Jacob Nottingham, Yasmani Grandal, Omar Narváez and Victor Caratini all seeing time and holding various roles of importance behind the plate.

Grandal was easily the best of the bunch in 2019 but Milwaukee was always viewed as a one-year stopoff for him en route to the longer and more lucrative free-agent deal he eventually signed with the Chicago White Sox.

It had been hoped Narváez would stick as his long-term replacement after Grandal departed, and he earned his first and only all-star nod to date in 2021 on the strength of a solid first half.

Otherwise, he completely reversed the scouting report on him as an offense-first catcher when he came over from the Seattle Mariners – a nod to the strong behind-the-scenes work if Milwaukee’s catcher whisperers Charlie Greene and Walker McKinven.

But the Brewers decided to turn the page on Narváez and one-time prospect Mario Feliciano in December and eventually netted Contreras from the Atlanta Braves in a three-team, nine-player trade that saw Milwaukee send outfield prospect Esteury Ruiz to the Oakland A’s while also netting reliever Joel Payamps and a minor-league reliever.

William Contreras on working with Brewers pitchers: 'I feel really good'

Landing Contreras – the younger brother of former Chicago Cubs and now St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras, a longtime Brewers nemesis – was ranked as one of the best under-the-radar moves of the offseason by baseball observers.

In Contreras, Milwaukee landed an ascending, controllable young player coming off his first all-star appearance capable of anchoring the middle of the lineup while growing into his role behind the plate under the tutelage of Greene, McKinven and former bullpen catcher Nestor Corredor – now a member of the coaching staff.

Contreras spent plenty of time watching video following the trade then jumped right in once pitchers and catchers reported to Maryvale in mid-February, doing the requisite work first with the glove and then with the bat.

“If you see those guys around camp, they’re with Walker and Nestor every single day working on receiving,” Counsell said. “We always talk about how the catchers have the hardest job in here.

“They have a connection to every player in the clubhouse -- the pitchers and the offensive players. They have the highest meeting responsibility. And then they have to go into the game and by far make more decisions than any player on the field. It’s a hard-working group. We expect them to be a hard-working group.

“Among the staff and the players, they all put in the work.”

“That’s part of baseball, right? It’s not going to be easy,” Contreras added through translator Carlos Brizuela. “It was tough early on, but after the third or fourth week I started feeling comfortable. Now, I feel really good.

“I feel comfortable with the whole pitching staff.”

And that comfort level appears to be mutual. His first go-around Thursday didn’t go as planned as Corbin Burnes was far from sharp in his five-inning start against the Cubs, but there are six months to go and 161 more games to be played.

“William's a great player,” Burnes said in the lead-up to opening day. “Obviously, he's young but as far as his experience goes behind the plate, just controlling a pitching staff, he's done well. He did it in Atlanta with some really great arms, and I think he had some ideas that he brought over to us.

“He's caught me a bunch of times back there. He works really hard. The one part he's working on a lot is all the framing stuff because we've done so well with catchers in the past with it. There's nothing that William is going to shy away from in his work.

“If you have constructive criticism for him, he's going to go in and work on it, but for the most part everything's been great. You're always building a relationship with catchers.”

Improving on his defensive skills

In 2022, Contreras ranked 48th in the majors with a strike rate of 45.1% while accounting for minus-four defensive runs saved and throwing out only 14% of would-be basestealers – numbers that he’s focused on improving just as Narváez did a few seasons ago when he transformed his game.

Contreras also hit .278 with 20 home runs and 45 runs batted in with an OPS of .860 in 97 games for the Braves. He made solid, consistent contact to all fields and drew his walks but also struck out at a high rate.

Overall, he accounted for 2.7 Wins Above Replacement compared to the total of 0.8 Narváez and Caratini combined to accrue.

Imagine what Contreras might be able to do this season with the Brewers as he’ll easily set a new career high for games played if he’s able to remain healthy and probably double the 57 games he started behind the plate last year with Atlanta.

“That’s definitely a challenge, right? That’s what people say about me, that I’m more of an offensive guy,” said Contreras, who came on at the plate toward the end of camp after a slow start and went 1 for 4 against the Cubs on Thursday. “I want to turn that around this year. I have a chip on my shoulder to prove people wrong.

“By the end of the year I want people to say that I’m 50-50 defensive and offensive catcher and at the same time, help the team win.”

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Spring crash course helped Brewers William Contreras get up to speed