ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A year that began for William Contreras with a World Baseball Classic championship for his native Venezuela ended with a World Series Most Valuable Player honor.
The Brewers catcher was chosen out of a host of worthy Milwaukee contenders as the MVP of the franchise’s first championship, which the team clinched with a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday in Game 5.
He is the eighth catcher to be selected the World Series MVP, and just the second since 1992, along with Kansas City’s Salvador Perez in 2015. He batted .381 (8-for-21) with four RBIs, two runs, two walks, a stolen base, a .435 on-base percentage and an .863 OPS.
“Very blessed year. I think a year that we have to give God a lot of thanks for everything he’s been able to do for us,” Contreras said. “… To be able to achieve it, it’s special.”
Some may argue that the World Series MVP honor should be handed to the Milwaukee pitching staff as a whole after it allowed 12 runs in the Fall Classic and 33 total runs in 13 postseason games (2.5 per game).
Contreras, in some ways, is a conduit of that. He was the starting catcher for every game of the postseason and was successful on 10 of 13 automated ball-strike challenges during the World Series.
“He posts every day,” Milwaukee reliever Aaron Ashby said. “This team’s not what it is without this guy. He’s unbelievable.”
Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski added of Contreras being named MVP, “It just makes sense.”
Contreras said, “I think it’s a big job. I think in the offseason last year, I think once we traded Freddy (Peralta), I knew that we were going to have a young staff. I took that upon myself and I knew the responsibility I was going to have that year to make sure that I built that relationship with those guys and make sure that they knew that they had that vote of confidence in me and knew I was going to do whatever I could for them so that we could build that relationship together.”
The World Series was redemptive for Contreras, who did get to enjoy the fruits of the WBC title back in March but wasn’t nearly as helpful in that run, going 0-for-13 in the WBC.
And in winning the Fall Classic, the 28-year-old got to join his 34-year-old brother Willson Contreras, a World Series champion with the Chicago Cubs in 2016 who was there in attendance on Wednesday, in reaching the pinnacle of baseball.
“My brother is my role model. I don’t have a lot of friends. He’s my friend. I love him. I love all the support that he gives me. If I have something to ask somebody, I ask Willson,” William Contreras said. “I follow after him. I always knew that he was going to be here (for this game). He wasn’t able to be here for the first couple games, but he was here for this one. I’m always going to follow in his footsteps.”