Bill Batterman is the When the Brewers signed Wes Helms to a two-year contract extension this past off-season, they thought they were getting a power-hitting third-baseman who could hit 20-30 home runs a season. Acquired on the advice of Ned Yost from the Braves during the first Winter Meeting of Doug Melvin’s tenure in Milwaukee, Helms had been blocked in Atlanta by Chipper Jones and had struggled in limited opportunities as a part-time player at first-base, third-base, and the outfield. Yost was convinced, however, that a full-time role would allow Helms to flourish, and that appeared to be the case in 2003 when the man affectionately known as “Caveman” hit 23 homers and produced a solid OPS of 780.
In signing him to an extension, however, the Brewers were betting that the Helms of 2003 was for real and that the beefy third-baseman could even improve on his breakthrough performance. But was that a sound bet? Should Helms’ history, both recent and not, have justified this confidence? Were his struggles in 2004 predictable? Or more to the point, should the Brewers have resigned Helms with the expectation that he would continue to produce at an above-average level for a third-baseman?
This article offers no firm conclusions. Rather, it attempts to place Helms’ 2003 season into context with an eye toward identifying possible trends that would impact the aforementioned questions. The first step is to outline Helms’ career path from the very beginning, with particular emphasis placed on his progress as a hitter. Next, some key statistics are analyzed to help track Helms’ development in both plate discipline and power. Finally, his 2003 season can be assessed and some hypotheses can be offered to explain his breakout success.