This story was excerpted from Adam McCalvy’s Brewers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
PHOENIX -- It’s Grand Theft Auto meets MLB The Show, and the latest example of the Brewers’ video production team seeing a creative idea go viral.
Their video-game parody starring outfielder Sal Frelick took off on social media after its release on Sunday, joining past efforts like the Brewers’ remake of The Sandlot (starring the likes of Christian Yelich and Stephen Vogt) in 2018 and their documentary series, “The Freshmen” with Frelick, Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang and more in 2023.
The latest spring hit was the brainchild of senior videographer and creative lead Carter Green, who followed Frelick throughout a Valentine’s Day workday at American Family Fields of Phoenix with a 360-degree camera mounted to a pole. Green then edited the piece with senior manager of digital content Ezra Siegel and senior editor Cody Oasen.
They weren’t sure what Frelick’s teammates would think about a staffer running around the outfield with a camera. But this is a clubhouse full of guys who are game.
“I didn’t quite get it. They said something about a video game,” Frelick said. “But I said, ‘Yeah, follow me around.’”
He’s known to do that.
“I just say yes to stuff before I ever know the topic,” Frelick said.
The Brewers’ marketing, social media and digital content teams have been brainstorming ideas all offseason, eager to take advantage of the relaxed atmosphere in Spring Training to pull off as many of them as possible. The Grand Theft Auto parody was everyone’s preferred place to start.
“Once that idea was mentioned, it became our highest priority,” Siegel said. “We had a good idea it would catch on.”
It takes clubhouse buy-in to make these projects pay off, and the Brewers have been blessed in that area. A couple of years ago the focus was longform pieces like the prospects documentary, but this spring the team is focused on short, quick videos that can draw in young fans and casual fans. The video-game idea found the sweet spot of baseball and culture.
“We’ve noticed that as the team has gotten younger, there’s more of an interest and a savvy in doing content,” Siegel said. “That one was easy to pitch because if you’re a male under 35 years old, you’ve played Grand Theft Auto.
“In general, I appreciate that the guys trust that we have the best intentions with everything. I really appreciate that.”
There’s more coming from what Siegel and his team loosely calls their “Arthouse Baseball” series. Another installment was planned for release on Tuesday morning.