LOS ANGELES — Christian Yelich’s MVP season for the Brewers is built on the hitting skills he showed back at Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
After the Brewers split the first two games of the NLCS against the Dodgers at Miller Park, Game 3 at Dodger Stadium on Monday will be a postseason homecoming for the Brewers’ star in the iconic ballpark he visited as a kid.
Tim McDonnell is the Marlins area scout who pushed his team to sign the sweet-swinging lefty, a first-round pick in 2010, 23rd overall. He also was instrumental in the Marlins signing Giancarlo Stanton.
It wasn’t just his baseball ability that made Yelich stand out.
“The best part about Christian is that he hasn’t changed from the time I met him until right now,’’ McDonnell told The Post. “He’s the same strong character, same kid, makeup is still tremendous and that’s the part I love about him. He is so consistent because that’s who he is as a person.
“He is so self-confident, but at the same time so humble,’’ McDonnell said. “He’s got that factor that is different than many, many of the other guys we deal with. I remember as a junior he hit a monster home run off Tyler Skaggs, who was a first-round pick of the Angels, left-left, a junior doing that.
“It was a tough call because he had a funky throwing motion and he was playing third and then they had him at short, but his swing was always the same. Every teammate I talked to said he was their leader, a quiet, confident guy,’’ McDonnell said. “He wasn’t a yeller, he just did his work. I could not find anyone who had anything negative to say about him. It was really surreal in some ways.’’
It all came together this season for Yelich after coming over from the Marlins in a January trade as he became the first batting champion (.326) in Brewers history.
Yelich led the NL in slugging percentage (.598), OPS (1.000) and total bases (343) as well. He also became only the fifth player in major league history to produce two cycles in the same season. He followed up all that by putting up a 1.196 OPS in the sweep of the Rockies in the NLDS.
Yelich was the ex-Marlin who came up big in the LDS. Stanton, his former teammate and 2017 NL MVP, struggled his first time out of the playoff box with the Yankees.
McDonnell, a former assistant baseball coach at Long Beach State during the Jered Weaver, Troy Tulowitzki, Evan Longoria era, can offer insight on Stanton as well because he scouted him, back when he was known as Mike Stanton.
Not bad to likely have two NL MVPs, the scouting daily double.
Stanton went to Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, Calif., and was picked in the second round (76th overall) by the Marlins in 2007.
After homering in the Yankees wild-card win over the A’s, Stanton put up a slash line of .222/.222/.222 versus the Red Sox and struck out six times in 18 plate appearances.
“Stanton was a quiet kid and still is, but very matter of fact when you talk to him,’’ McDonnell, 48, said. “It took awhile for him to trust me or trust anybody, that’s just his nature. No nonsense with him. Ask him a question, he’ll give you an answer, always straightforward and still is. The self-confidence and level of awareness these guys have is just different. I think of these kids as like my nephews.’’
McDonnell is confident Stanton will “make the adjustments and he will learn.
“No one can guarantee results, but I can guarantee you that every bit of work that needs to be put in will be put in,’’ McDonnell said. “There will be no drop of sweat that will be left on that one. He works as hard as anyone I’ve been around.
“I always said Tulowitzki was one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen but [Stanton] is like that, too. He’ll grow and do the work he is supposed to do. He is a very, very responsible individual. He thinks through things. I would think he will bounce back just fine.’’
Scout’s honor.