Apr 20, 2019; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Brewers right fielder Christian Yelich (22) high fives teammates in the dugout after hitting a home run during the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

When the Milwaukee Brewers acquired Christian Yelich from the Miami Marlins in January 2018, it was viewed as a steal of a deal for the Brewers. Yelich was worth an average of 5.0 WAR according to FanGraphs (fWAR) over 2016-17, and he was entering his age-26 season with Milwaukee. Baseball evaluators believed there was more power potential in Yelich’s bat, with his career-high in homers being 21 with the Marlins in 2017.

Well, Yelich went bonkers in the power department with Milwaukee in 2018, particularly in the second half of the season. He hit 36 homers, with 25 of those coming in the second half. He had an NL-best 1.000 OPS, and a 1.219 OPS in the second half (after .823 in the first half). Oh, and he won the NL MVP.

Still, it was expected that Yelich would regress back to simply “awesome” territory in 2019, but it seems he may be the new Barry Bonds and keep up the absurd production shown in last season’s second half.

Yelich cranked two more dingers in the Brewers’ 5-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night, giving him 13 on the season.

The 13 homers are three more than anybody else in baseball has (the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger has 10). Heck, it’s three more homers than the Detroit Tigers have as a team. And all 13 Yelich homers have come at Miller Park.

Yelich also leads all players in fWAR at 2.0, in RBI at 31, and slugging percentage (.880).

Some more numbers and factoids to show how insane Yelich has been:

He has 38 home runs, 98 runs batted in, and a .796 slugging percentage since the 2018 All-Star break.

He needs just one more homer to tie the record for most homers by May 1 (Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez hit 14).

He reached 13 homers in four fewer plate appearances than Bonds did in 2001, the year Bonds blasted 73 dingers.

Maybe Yelich slows down a bit at some point this season, but we’re at the point where we probably shouldn’t expect it. He’s showing that his 2018 Bonds-esque second half may be no fluke, and repeating as the NL MVP is a very real possibility. His efforts have led the Brewers to a 13-9 record.

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

He can be followed on Twitter at @Matt2Clapp (also @TheBlogfines for Cubs/MLB tweets and @DaBearNecess for Bears/NFL tweets), and can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.