MILWAUKEE -- Missing the first five weeks of the regular season didn’t keep Jackson Chourio from remaining a dues-paying member of the 20-homer club.
The 22-year-old Milwaukee outfielder belted his 20th home run of the season to open the scoring in Saturday’s 5-3 Brewers win over the Rangers at American Family Field, securing Chouiro’s third consecutive 20-homer season to begin his promising career.
He became the 17th player with at least three seasons of 20 or more home runs by his age-22 season -- and this is a list you definitely want to be on. Of the previous 16, eight are in the Hall of Fame: Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Eddie Mathews, Mickey Mantle, Al Kaline, Frank Robinson, Orlando Cepeda and Ken Griffey Jr. Beyond that, there’s Tony Conigliaro, Bob Horner, Alex Rodriguez, Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Carlos Correa and Juan Soto, some of whom may be on their way to Cooperstown.
Which makes you wonder, what kind of trajectory could Chourio be on?
“He’s still learning the game. Man, he’s special,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy. “His hands go from ‘A’ to ‘B’ as quick as anybody. It’s bat speed and strength. He’s got a great base underneath him. And the great thing is that he comes in every day with a smile on his face. He doesn’t get too down. He doesn’t critique every swing. Yeah, he’s special.”
Chourio and the Brewers have reason to smile, because Saturday’s victory was their 10th in the last 13 games, and it secured a fifth consecutive winning series. At a Major League-best 85-51, they are 3 1/2 games ahead of the American League-leading Rays, four games ahead of the Braves and Dodgers in the overall NL standings and eight games ahead of the Cubs in the NL Central.
That’s the stuff that matters to Chourio, more than any individual milestone.
Asked what he believes is the next step in his career, he responded, “The dream is to win. That’s the hope this year, to continue winning and to win it all.”
Only one player had four 20-homer seasons by age 22 -- former Red Sox phenom Tony Conigliaro (1964-67), who was on his way to a remarkable career before tragedy struck in 1967. He suffered major injuries when he was hit in the face by a pitch.
And according to Elias, of all of those players, Chourio is the third-youngest player of that group to hit his 20th home run for the third straight season:
1964-66 Conigliaro: 21 years, 206 days
1929-31 Ott: 22 years, 163 days
2024-26 Chourio: 22 years, 171 days
“All of those names are great examples for me moving forward,” Chourio said.
What does reaching the 20-homer plateau once again mean to him?
“I’m proud and happy that I was able to do it,” he said via interpreter Daniel de Mondesert. “Hopefully there are many more to come.”
Chourio is rather quietly having his best season in the big leagues, with career highs in all three slash line categories (batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage) at this stage of the season, despite spending the first month-plus on the injured list with a fractured bone at the base of his left middle finger. He suffered the injury when he was hit by a pitch while playing for Team Venezuela in a tune-up for the World Baseball Classic, but the extent of it did not become clear until he landed on the IL on the morning of Opening Day.
Chourio made his season debut for the Brewers on May 4 and hit the ground running with four hits, including a pair of doubles, in a loss to the Cardinals.
“The truth is, the beginning there was pretty hard,” he said. “But I’ve been happy and blessed that I’ve been able to stay healthy since then, and have been able to put my piece forward to help the team win. We’ve been able to do a lot of that.”
With his 20th homer in the books, Chourio still has a month to get the six more stolen bases he needs for a third straight 20-20 season to begin his career. If he does, he would become the first player since at least 1900 to have three 20-20 seasons by his age-23 season.
Chourio and William Contreras each hit a solo homer to get Saturday’s game off to the right start for a crowd of 36,895, but it was the Brewers’ rookies who did much of the heavy lifting. Left-hander Shane Drohan wasn’t particularly efficient (99 pitches for five innings), but held the Rangers to one run and got help from Luis Lara’s two run-scoring singles and from Cooper Pratt’s seventh sacrifice fly.
All of those players made their Major League debut this season, following in Chourio’s footsteps as rookies to make a mark with Milwaukee right from the start.
For Chourio, the sky is the limit.
“He’s going to have a great career,” Murphy said. “He’s already off to a great start.”