We’re kicking off our ranking of the Brewers’ 10 most valuable players in 2025 with third baseman Caleb Durbin. Durbin finished the season with 2.9 bWAR and 2.6 fWAR, good for seventh and sixth on the team, respectively.
While old for a rookie at 25 years old, Durbin has come a long way from being a 14th-round pick out of Washington University in St. Louis back in 2021. Per Baseball Savant, Durbin ranked right around league average in the field and at the plate, while finishing in the 78th percentile
in baserunning value.
His Savant page also shows room for improvement next season, as he ranked in the bottom 10% for average exit velocity, hard-hit rate, sweet-spot rate, and bat speed, but finished with an elite 9.9% strikeout rate (98th percentile) and 13.0% whiff rate (96th percentile). If he’s willing to sacrifice some strikeouts for improvements in those other areas, we could see him take a step forward similar to Brice Turang’s this season.
After starting the season at Triple-A, Durbin quickly made his way to the majors after the struggles of Oliver Dunn and Vinny Capra. He totaled 136 games, including 131 at the hot corner, turning in a .256/.334/.387 line with 11 homers, 53 RBIs, 60 runs, and 18 steals. He also led the league with 24 HBPs.
Durbin was also one of the few bright spots in the Brewers’ sweep at the hands of the Dodgers in the NLCS, picking up four hits, including a pair of doubles and a triple, to go with a pair of steals. Across nine postseason games, Durbin hit .276/.364/.414 with eight hits, three steals, two RBIs, and three runs.
Durbin’s signature moment this season came against the Padres in early June, when he delivered a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning after Trevor Megill blew the save in the top of the frame.
While his arm strength leaves something to be desired, he held his own at third base and actually ranked above-average by Baseball Reference’s analytics. Durbin could certainly find himself at second base in the long-term future if the Brewers opt to push Turang over to shortstop.
After a disappointing sophomore campaign from shortstop Joey Ortiz, let’s hope Durbin can maintain his solid play into year two to solidify Milwaukee’s infield.
We’ll continue our rankings of the 10 most valuable Brewers each Tuesday and Friday into early December. Come back this Friday to see who we have at No. 9.
- Caleb Durbin (2.9 bWAR, 2.6 fWAR)
