Jackson Chourio Turns Calm Into Brewers Postseason Star Power

Jackson Chourio is 22 years old, and Milwaukee Brewers hitting coach Daniel Vogelbach says he is still just a kid who could be playing college baseball right now. Instead, the outfielder is driving a World Series push. In Game 3 on Monday in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 to take a 3-0 series lead, one win away from the first championship in the franchise's 57-year history.

Chourio had four of the Brewers' 16 hits in that game, making him the first 22-year-old in 80 years to collect four hits in a World Series game. It was his 23rd career postseason game, all of them played in the past three years. He has eight hits through the first three games of the series.

He started the decisive fifth-inning rally with a base hit up the middle and finished it with a double into the right-center-field gap. The Brewers scored eight two-out runs in that inning. Their offense had already shown its persistence by blitzing Nick Martinez in the first inning of Game 1 and overcoming a four-run deficit in Game 2.

"He's turning into a superstar right in front of our eyes," Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said. Arnold was the general manager under David Stearns when Milwaukee signed Chourio out of Venezuela at age 16 in 2021. Captain Christian Yelich offered a similar view: "He's got that slow heartbeat. He likes the moment."

Chourio, speaking in Spanish, described his approach as staying calm and focusing only on a positive result. He acknowledged that people expect a lot from him, and said he expects a lot from himself too.

His October run this year began with the composure to catch the Ty France fly ball that clanked off a roof cable in Game 1 of the NL Division Series, followed a day later by a walk-off single against closer Mason Miller. Field coordinator Néstor Corredor, who also coached him in Venezuelan winter ball and this year's World Baseball Classic, said Chourio grew too anxious during a rematch with the Los Angeles Dodgers but has since settled back in, working counts and shortening his swing. Corredor said Chourio understands he does not have to be the hero because a full team stands behind him.

The numbers back up the reputation. Across the past three years, league-wide OPS is 39 points higher in the regular season than in the postseason, but Chourio has gone the other way. His regular-season OPS from 2024 to 2026 is .799, compared with .882 in the playoffs. In that span he became the first player with three consecutive 20-homer, 20-steal seasons before turning 23. Backup catcher Gary Sánchez said Chourio seems to like these moments more than the regular season.

Chourio believes he was born for this stage, and perhaps his name plays a part. His father, Jackson Sr., was a devoted Los Angeles Lakers fan during their early-2000s dominance. His younger brother Jaison, an outfielder in the Cleveland Guardians system, carries the middle name Oneel after Shaquille O'Neal, while Chourio's middle name, Bryan, honors the late Kobe Bryant. Chourio has read some of Bryant's autobiography, "The Mamba Mentality," and tries to adopt what he can.

Bryant famously shot airballs in his first taste of the playoffs and had to grow into a five-time champion. Chourio has reached that level of comfort much sooner. "I know how hard I've worked for this," he said. "But the fact it's all working out the best way possible is truly gratifying."