Chief Correspondent, Matt Tallarini
Major League baseball players Wilson and William Contreras become the first Latino Brothers to hit 20 plus Home Runs and Appear in the All Star Game as Starters in the same season
Both catchers in the Majors, Wilson with the Chicago Cubs and William with the Atlanta Braves have both had a remarkable season together with their respective clubs. William Contreras in his first stint in a full season at the Major League level has got the attention of Braves fans having a batting average of .279 and with over 40 Runs batted in with 300 plus at bats. Now they are the only brothers of Hispanic heritage who have hit 20 or more home runs in the same season.
William and Wilson were also the first set of brothers to appear in the MLB All Star Game at Dodger Stadium. William has had a successful year as a backup catcher splitting a majority of the starts of the season with Travis D’Arnaud. William got the nod to start last night with Kyle Wright on the hill for the Atlanta Braves. With just less than a week and a half left during the season William had eyes on history. Prior to Williams second at bat of the game he struck out against Phillies starting pitcher Bailey Falter. In his second at bat William stepped in the batter’s box with two outs and nobody on base and drove the ball over the left field wall for a home run to capture a 2-0 lead over the Phillies.
Bailey Falter would end up going into the fourth inning and soon be taken out of the game allowing 6 earned runs, ten hits, 3 2/3 innings pitched along with 6 strikeouts. Atlanta went onto win the game on the road against the Phillies 6-3. Atlanta with a 94-58 record is still positioning themselves in the division race with the first place New York Mets who are up by a game and a half.
Before landing on the injured list Wilson Contreras hit his 21st home run of the season in Toronto against starting Pitcher Kevin Gausman on August 30th. Prior to Wilson’s 21st home run of the season the Chicago Cubs were in a two game home stand August 19th-20th against the Milwaukee Brewers. During the second game of the series between Milwaukee Wilson parked his 20th homer of the season over the left center field wall off Brewers starting pitcher Freddy Peralta.
It has been a storied season for the Contreras family and the country of Venezuela seeing these two high caliber players performing for the 2022 season. The last time two brothers played in the All Star Game before the Contreras brothers were Aaron and Brett Boone during the 2003 All Star Game at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. The last time two brother’s started in the same lineup to begin an All Star Game was at the 1992 All Star Game in San Diego at Jack Murphy Stadium where both Roberto and Sandy Alomar Jr. were registered in the batting order.
Wilson and William are in a great position to fulfill their careers with both respected franchises with Wilson battling to stay with the Cubs in his contract year. Atlanta is in a division race with the New York Mets with less than a week and a half to decide a first round wild card series spot or a second seed bye into the National League Division Series for the hunt into the October postseason.
