ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — William Contreras became the eighth catcher voted the World Series MVP after lifting the Milwaukee Brewers to their first World Series championship.
The heart and soul of the small-market Brewers, Contreras batted .381 while guiding Milwaukee's pitching staff, throwing out four attempted base stealers and capitalizing on the first Series with the Automated Ball-Strike challenge system by winning 10 of 13 appeals. He had an RBI double during Milwaukee's clinching 4-1 victory in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
“He posts every day," reliever Aaron Ashby said. "This team’s not what it is without this guy. He’s unbelievable.”
Moments after being awarded MVP, Contreras embraced his older brother, Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras, who won a World Series with the Chicago Cubs in 2016.
“My brother’s my best friend,” William Contreras said through tears.
He teared up again when asked about Venezuela, his home country. Contreras was on Venezuela’s team that won its first World Baseball Classic in March, though he was 0 for 13 with no RBIs. He draped a Venezuelan flag over his shoulders while celebrating on the field Wednesday.
He and teammates Jackson Chourio and Antonio Senzatela joined Alex Bregman and Luke Gregerson (Team USA/Houston Astros in 2017) as the only players to win the WBC and World Series in the same year.
“It means everything because that’s the first time Venezuela guys win the WBC and the World Series," he said. "It’s history, history for my country. I love Venezuela. It’s my country.”
He joins Gene Tenace (1972), Johnny Bench (1976), Steve Yeager (co-winner in 1981), Darrell Porter (1982), Rick Dempsey (1983), Pat Borders (1992) and Salvador Perez (2015) as catchers to win the award.
A three-time All-Star, the 28-year-old Contreras batted .270 with 18 homers and a career-best 94 RBIs as the Brewers won their fourth straight NL Central title.
He leveraged baseball's new robot umpire challenge system better than anyone, leading MLB with 185 challenges and 105 overturns during the regular season. He was right on 10 of 13 challenges in the World Series and 22 of 33 overall in the postseason.
“It’s not magic,” Contreras said. "I think it’s the experience of playing every day throughout the season."
He hit .444 with a pair of solo homers in the Division Series against San Diego, hitting a tiebreaking, seventh-inning drive in Game 1 and another homer in Game 3. He batted .357 with one homer and three RBIs in the Championship Series sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Milwaukee had several worthy candidates for MVP. Cooper Pratt set a Series rookie record with six straight hits and tied Gil McDougald's rookie mark from 1951 with seven RBIs, including go-ahead hits in the final three games. Jackson Chourio had 11 hits, the most by a player in a five-game World Series. Ace Jacob Misiorowski allowed just one run in 10 2/3 innings, and reliever Aaron Ashby pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings with a save and nine strikeouts.
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