Jackson Chourio delivered a dramatic walk-off in Game 2 of the NLDS against the San Diego Padres, ripping a line drive up the middle with the bases loaded and two outs to score two runs and complete a 3-2 victory. The hit came against reliever Mason Miller, who had issued the bases-loaded walk earlier in the inning and was in his second inning of work; game accounts note Miller may have been tipping pitches and that his wife was about to go into labor.
Miller had worked ahead 1-2 in the count, and hitters in the regular season had managed just a .066 average against him with two strikes. Chourio fouled off a 103.5 mph fastball, took a slider below the zone, then ripped Miller’s sixth pitch—a 101.3 mph fastball—into play at 109.5 mph, the second-hardest batted ball of the game.
The walk-off was the third such playoff win in Brewers history. MLB postseason history includes 174 walk-off events, 152 of them walk-off hits; only 15 of those walk-offs occurred with the team trailing, 10 came with two outs and just five of those 10 featured a batter already down to two strikes.
Through 16 career postseason games, Chourio is hitting .300/.333/.600 with five home runs and 17 RBIs. In the Padres series he produced a two-run, 113 mph homer in the third inning of Game 1 to tie that game, the Game 2 walk-off, a sacrifice fly in Game 3 that tied the score, and an RBI single in the clinching Game 4 that put Milwaukee ahead 2-1. He has driven in six of the Brewers’ 13 runs in the playoffs.
Chourio’s numbers stack up with the best young postseason performers. According to Baseball-Reference, postseason RBIs through the age-22 season list Carlos Correa with 18, followed by Jackson Chourio and Andruw Jones with 17. In OPS through age 22 (min. 40 PAs), Jimmie Foxx leads at 1.069, Chourio is at .933 and Gleyber Torres at .928. On home runs through age 22, Correa had seven, Evan Longoria six, and Chourio five (tied with Kyle Schwarber and Juan Soto).
Also per Baseball-Reference, Chourio is tied for 10th with 18 postseason hits through age 22 among a group that includes Hall of Famers Andruw Jones and Derek Jeter, future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera and likely Hall of Famers Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto, plus Carlos Correa, Ronald Acuna Jr., Cody Bellinger and Corbin Carroll. Elvis Andrus is the all-time leader in hits through age 22 and finished his career with 34 WAR and more than 2,000 hits. Baseball-Reference’s list of most similar players through age 22 includes Jones and a group largely made up of well-known, but not all Hall of Fame, careers such as Justin Upton, Ruben Sierra and Jason Heyward.
