Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins has exercised his player option and will return to the team in 2025.

Per Adam McCalvy, who covers the Brewers on social media:

Rhys Hoskins has exercised his $18 million player option to come back to the Brewers in 2025.

The 31-year-old signed a three-year deal with the Brewers last offseason. The second year included this player option and next offseason there will be a mutual option.

Coming off a torn ACL suffered in 2023, Hoskins helped lead the Brewers to the National League Central title in 2024. He hit just .214 but had 26 homers and 82 RBI. Those are solid numbers for sure, but Hoskins still posted just a 98 OPS+ for the year, suggesting he was a slightly below average player.

Now that the Brewers have a resolution on his status for next year, they’ll need to figure out a way to make him even more productive. The assumption is that Willy Adames is going to leave in free agency this offseason, meaning that Hoskins and Christian Yelich will need to pick up the slack and help carry the offense.

Hoskins is a seven-year veteran of the Philadelphia Phillies and Brewers. Lifetime, he’s a .238 hitter with 174 home runs. He hit a career-high 34 homers back in 2018 and has topped the 30-homer mark one other time (2022).

The Brewers were beaten by the New York Mets in the wild card series in these playoffs. The Brewers lost a crushing Game 3 as the Mets ultimately went to the NLCS.

Continue to follow our Fastball On SI coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter @FastballFN.

Milwaukee Pretzel went from an idea to a successful business in just a few short years. The story starts when owners Matt and Katie Wessel spent time in Germany for Katie’s job in 2012.

“We were traveling a lot of places in Bavaria, and we were eating these pretzels day in and day out. And it just hit us that America—and Milwaukee in particular, a very Germanic city—needed these pretzels as a part of its identity,” Matt Wessel says.

Once they returned to the U.S., Katie, a self-described foodie, started playing around with recipes, mixing styles of pretzels they enjoyed during their travels.

“It was only once we were back and we talked about it and made a few batches, and friends tried them, that we thought we had something that was fairly viable,” Matt said.

Those same friends helped Matt and Katie with their first big order. After meeting with the German Fest board in 2013, Matt thought he could get the pretzel into the next year’s festival.

Watch: Milwaukee Pretzel Company started by husband and wife duo.

Made In Wisconsin: Milwaukee Pretzel Company expands as demand grows

The organizers had another thought. Matt says, “They tried them and were very straight-faced; we didn’t know what they thought. Well, they called us later that afternoon and said, ‘We actually have a vendor spot open for this festival. Can you do it?’ I’m like, ‘No, that’s three weeks away, we can’t do it. But thank you.’ But Katie is like, ‘We can do it.’” They made 2,000 pretzels for the festival and sold out.

Pretzels were made in three different locations as the company continued to outgrow each space. Eventually, they settled in Milwaukee’s Granville Woods, where they can make more than 2,000 pretzels an hour, and are currently expanding. Doubling their square footage will increase output tremendously.

Matt says, “Probably about 10,000 an hour. Twelve thousand pretzels an hour.” This will likely mean the company will have to add to their 105 employees and their current amount of equipment. Some of the company’s products are made by machines, while others are still made by hand and likely always will be.

Wessel believes the reason the pretzels are so popular is the ingredients—or really, the lack thereof. They don’t use preservatives or sugar when making their pretzels, making their pretzels fresh to order before they are shipped to customers.

Wessel says, “It’s really gratifying to see people start to talk about Milwaukee as a region for pretzels. We’ve even had people outside of the Midwest refer to ‘Milwaukee pretzels,’ referring to our style, and that means a lot to us.”

It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.

Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.

Report a typo or error

The Memphis Grizzlies desperately needed a win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, and not only did Ja Morant lead his team to one, he made history in the process.

Against the Bucks, Morant put up 26 points, 14 assists, 10 rebounds, and 1 steal on 56/40/86 shooting from the field. He did it all in under 29 minutes because the Grizzlies were leading by as many as 31 points throughout the game. Morant’s performance was so dominant, that it was actually historic.

On Thursday night, Ja Morant recorded the 8th fastest triple-double in NBA history. He recorded the triple-double in 21 points and 28 seconds. The stat was revealed via @statmamba.

After losing two straight games and suffering a plethora of injuries, it was clear that the Memphis Grizzlies needed an uplifting performance. After losing against the Nets last night, it looked like Morant was starting to have a chip on his shoulder. With that chip, he gave one of his best performances ever.

“That’s definitely one I think should be on sportscenter highlights tonight,” Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins said about Morant’s pass.

After defeating the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, the Memphis Grizzlies find themselves back at .500, with an overall record of 3-3. Milwaukee on the other hand, is now on a four-game losing streak with a record of 1-4.

Ja Morant Excites Memphis Grizzlies Fans in Latest Workout Footage

Eight-Year NBA Veteran, Ex-Grizzlies Player Joins New Team in Portugal

Ja Morant Reacts to Viral LeBron James and Steph Curry Moment in USA-France