3 Years After PEDs, Ryan Braun's Power Has Finally Returned

If the Milwaukee Brewers' 2015 season has been a dreary storm cloud, Ryan Braun has been its silver lining.

Entering play Wednesday, the Brewers sat at 18-35, 16.5 games back in the National League Central. They fired manager Ron Roenicke in early May, and as of Tuesday, they ranked dead last in baseball with an anemic .227 team batting average.

Then there's Braun. The five-time All-Star and former NL MVP has rediscovered his power stroke after two seasons tarnished by a 65-game performance-enhancing drug suspension and diminished performance. He's hitting like his old self, or something close to it, and that's very good news for the Brew Crew.

With 12 home runs in 51 games, Braun is on pace to hit 37, his highest total since 2012, when he clubbed an NL-leading 41.

And his bombs haven't been cheap. According to ESPN's Home Run Tracker, Braun's home runs have traveled an estimated "true distance" of 408.2 feet, well above the MLB average of 397.8.

On May 25, he launched a ball 465 feet, the longest home run at Miller Park since 2011, per ESPN Stats & Info:

What the heck, let's go ahead and watch it, because long home runs are fun, and because that one swing contains as much information as a spreadsheet stuffed with stats.

Braun's season started inauspiciously. On April 27, he had just one home run and a pedestrian .547 OPS. Since then, he's been one of the Senior Circuit's hottest hitters.

Some of Braun's early struggles, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted, can be blamed on lingering rust and bad mechanics caused by a nagging thumb injury.

After undergoing an offseason procedure on the thumb, Braun says he's right again. 

"Obviously, I wasn't able to use my top hand for the better part of two years," he said, per Haudricourt. "I can let the ball get a lot deeper now. My swing is a lot more consistent than it was."

Of course, as Braun added, "The challenge isn't doing it over a month. The challenge is doing it over the course of a season."

That's a key point. Last season, as Noah Jarosh of Brew Crew Ball pointed out, Braun hit .320 with eight home runs in April and May combined, only to tail off as spring ceded to summer. Because of that, Jarosh feels it may be too early to declare Braun's stardom reborn.

"It's a risky proposition to say Ryan Braun is back, that he's good again, just yet," he wrote. "It's too early. It's possible, but until we get at least a full season of him hitting well, I'm not prepared to call him 'back.'"

Assuming he keeps the long balls coming, Braun will present the Brewers with an interesting choice. Do they build around him as the rehabilitated face of the franchise, or dangle him at the trade deadline and see if there are any takers?

There might not be. Braun is signed through 2021, when he'll be 37 years old and owed more than $100 million. Even considering his recent resurgence and the lack of legitimate power bats available, that could be a tough sell. 

Gene Puskar/Associated Press

On the other hand, if Braun is really back, he'd be a solid cornerstone and a legitimate drawing card for Milwaukee as it lurches through what figures to be a protracted rebuild. 

Remember, this is the guy who hit at least 25 home runs and collected no fewer than 97 RBI in every season between 2007 and 2012. 

Yes, he cheated and lied to cover his tracks. But he also came clean eventually, served his suspension and issued an apology. Here's a snip from Braun's statement, issued in August 2013, per Yahoo Sports' Tim Brown:

"

I deeply regret many of the things I said at the press conference after the arbitrator's decision in February 2012. At that time, I still didn't want to believe that I had used a banned substance. I think a combination of feeling self-righteous, and having a lot of unjustified anger led me to react the way I did. 

I felt wronged and attacked, but looking back now, I was the one who was wrong. I am beyond embarrassed that I said what I thought I needed to say to defend my clouded vision of reality. I am just starting the process of trying to understand why I responded the way I did, which I continue to regret. There is no excuse for any of this.

"

That's as contrite and complete an admission as you'll hear.

You may not have forgiven Braun, and maybe you even view his current power binge with suspicion. Give the guy credit for owning up to his mistakes, though. 

The dark clouds are still gathered over Milwaukee—and over Braun to some extent. But every time he launches a baseball skyward, a little sunshine peeks through.

All statistics current as of June 3 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.