Since making his major league debut on Opening Day in 2023, Milwaukee Brewers infielder Brice Turang has literally hit the ground running.
With his first at-bat as a big leaguer, he beat out an infield hit against the Chicago Cubs on March 30, 2023, which showed off his speed to fans of the Brew Crew for the first time.
After a three-week tune-up in Triple-A Nashville in June of 2023, the third-year man has been a fixture in the middle of the diamond for the Brewers ever since.
Folks in Milwaukee have grown accustomed to his steady performance in the field and at the plate, but his game has garnered some noteworthy national attention recently.
Turang was selected out of Santiago High School in Corona, CA, with the 21st overall pick in the 2018 MLB draft. His climb through the minors was balanced and methodical, and he was someone the Brewers brass coveted.
“[Turang] has been on the map for years,” Brewers scouting director Josh Belovsky said in 2018. “As a freshman, he was on varsity and hit like .500. He’s always had an innate ability to hit and barrel the baseball. At shortstop, he’s a premium defender. You’re getting a guy who could potentially be an All-Star that can hit at the top of the lineup for you. Plus runner, solid arm, leader on the field. Just a solid overall player.”
During his four seasons in the Brewers’ farm system, Turang lived up to his expectations. He batted a respectable .270 over six different levels of play, and he never hit lower than .256 over a full year.
Trusted with the job of being the everyday second baseman for the Brewers in 2023, Turang did not take long to ingratiate himself with hometown fans. In his first home opener against the New York Mets, he hit his first major-league homer, a grand slam, in a 10-0 Milwaukee rout.
Although he hit just .218 during his rookie campaign, his defense and speed gave the organization confidence in his future as a Brewer.
In his breakout 2024 season, Turang played in 155 games and saw his offensive statistics rise in every category. He hit .254, clubbed seven home runs, and knocked in 57 runs. In addition, he became just the fifth player in franchise history to steal 50 bases in one season, hitting that number right on the nose.
Turang became the first Brewer infielder to win the prestigious Rawlings Gold Glove award, given to each league’s standout defender, since Robin Yount won it in 1982.
That was not all.
He earned the franchise’s first Platinum Glove Award, which by fan vote is bestowed upon the “best of the best” of the Gold Glove winners. Turang led all Major League fielders, not just second basemen, with 22 Defensive Runs Saved in 2024. He also led all NL fielders in Baseball Reference’s Defensive Wins Above Replacement stat.
The second baseman credited instinct and being a team player as reasons for his defensive prowess.
“The first step really matters. The distance you cover. How many plays you make that are routine compared to other guys. Stuff like that matters,” Turang said. “But the main thing is winning. If I can help my team win, I’ll do it any way possible. That’s what really matters.”
Turang, no longer a secret in Major League Baseball, now has national pundits singing his praises.
Back in April, The Athletic’s Jim Bowden published a piece entitled “Seven former Day 1 MLB draft picks showing signs of breakthroughs early this season”, in which Bowden featured Turang.
“He won his first Gold Glove Award and had a 4.7-WAR season,” wrote Bowden, “but now he’s starting to look like the all-around good player (as opposed to just a speed-and-glove guy) that the Brewers hoped he’d become when they drafted him.”
On Friday, July 4, ESPN writer Bradford Doolittle further detailed the 25-year-old’s influence on the Brewers. In his article entitled, “Stock Watch: 2025 first-half MVPs for all 30 MLB teams,” Doolittle designated Turang as Milwaukee’s most impactful player thus far.
“Turang is again flashing Gold Glove defense at second base and stealing bags when he gets on base, which he has been doing more than ever, “wrote Doolittle. “His OBP is fueled by a .288 batting average, which, in turn, is fueled by a .363 BABIP. Fluke? There might be some regression in store, but the improvements are real. Turang’s line drive rate is 3% better than the league average, and his hard-hit rate has jumped by 16.3% over last season. Turang has tacked on 4.6 mph to his 2024 average exit velocity.”
In just his third full season as a Brewer, Brice Turang’s success has gone step-by-step with his team’s fortunes. He has only known division-championship accomplishments; Milwaukee is going for their third straight crown in 2025.
Most baseball people will say that playing solid defense depends on those in the middle of the diamond. With catcher William Contreras, shortstop Joey Ortiz, centerfielder Jackson Chourio, and the Platinum Glove winner Turang at second base, the Brewers have a young, solid core that could carry them to a three-peat in the NL Central.
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