Jackson Chourio the youngest hitter to have 20-20 season

SAN FRANCISCO — A 20-20 season at age 20? Chalk it up as another history-making moment for Brewers rookie Jackson Chourio.

When Chourio powered an opposite-field home run through the cold air at Oracle Park in the eighth inning of Thursday’s 3-0 win over the Giants, he became the first Major Leaguer to secure a 20-homer, 20-stolen base season before his 21st birthday.

In the interest of full disclosure, Chourio holds that distinction by a hair. Two other players logged 20-20 campaigns in their age-20 seasons — the Reds’ Vada Pinson in 1959 and the Angels’ Mike Trout in 2012 — but both had turned 21 by the time they joined the club. Trout did it by hitting his 20th home run on his 21st birthday.

Being in the same conversation with a player who’s won three league MVP Awards since then, however, was enough to make Chourio smile.

“I’m just very proud and happy to maybe have a little bit of an edge on that record,” Chourio said.

Chourio won’t turn 21 until next March, so he had the entirety of this season to aim for 20-20, something he’s been talking about as a goal for months. He stole his 20th base on Aug. 31 and had been sitting on 19 home runs since Sept. 3. When he connected for home run No. 20 against Giants reliever Spencer Bivens, it was only the 76th time a right-handed hitter has homered to right field at Oracle Park.

More importantly, it gave the Brewers some breathing room in a game that saw starter Frankie Montas and relievers Aaron Ashby, Trevor Megill and Devin Williams combine for a five-hit shutout. Chourio’s homer turned a 1-0 lead into a 3-0 lead as Milwaukee inched closer to clinching the National League Central for the second straight season and the third time in the last four years.

“It’s just an incredible story,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “I feel privileged to be part of it, to be honest with you. He’s an amazing kid, which makes it beautiful to be around him, and then you just see the way he stays after it.”

That goes a long way in explaining how Chourio has played a starring role in the Brewers’ surprising success. As the team enters a tough 10-game stretch entirely against the contending D-backs and Phillies, with a nine-game lead over the second-place Cubs in the NL Central and 16 regular-season games to play, Chourio is slashing .272/.325/.466 with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases, putting him at least in the conversation with Padres 21-year-old outfielder Jackson Merrill and Pirates 22-year-old right-hander Paul Skenes for the NL Rookie of the Year Award.

There has been history along the way. It started in December, when Chourio, still just 19 years old and the No. 2 overall prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline, signed an eight-year, $82 million contract that shattered the record for a prospect yet to step foot in the big leagues.

“They signed him to a big deal before he even gets to the big leagues, and you can absolutely see why,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “He does a lot of things really well.”

That contract gave Chourio and his family financial security for life, but it also guaranteed that whenever he arrived in the Majors, he would carry enormous expectations. By the time he celebrated his 20th birthday during Spring Training, Chourio was well on his way to a spot in Milwaukee’s Opening Day lineup, but there were no guarantees of success.

For most of the first two months of the season, Chourio’s youth showed. On June 1, he was batting .207 with a .575 OPS. The Brewers could have called up outfielder Joey Wiemer and given Chourio a chance to regroup in the Minors, but instead they stuck with him and traded Wiemer to the Reds in July for Montas.

“When you make those types of commitments,” Brewers GM Matt Arnold said, “it’s a commitment on both sides.”

“The adjustments he’s making — you see, like, the intent of his at-bats from where he was in March to where he is now. He’s up there looking to do damage,” Arnold said. “There’s that survival mode when you first get to the big leagues, and now he’s taken that next step.”

“I couldn’t have predicted it,” Murphy said. “The skillset is there, but I couldn’t have predicted the defense, the awareness, the handling of everything. It’s just incredible.”

Of course, reaching one milestone means thoughts of the next. Could a 30-30 season be in store for next season? Or even more?

“Right now, that’s not where the focus is,” Chourio said. “The focus is to finish the year good, and next year, when it comes around, we’ll see what it brings.”