Brewers Pitcher of the Month: May 2024

[Ryan Pollak]

As another month of the season passes, what hard throwing pitchers stood out the best? It's time again to award the Brewers Pitcher of the Month for the month of May

The Brewers have just completed their second full month of baseball. After series against the Cubs, Royals, Cardinals, Pirates, Astros, Marlins, and Red Sox, the brewers still hold a sizable lead in the NL Central. One of the key reasons they have maintained their lead is due to their pitching who had a 3.56 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP on the month.

But what pitchers shined their brightest this month? Last month, we split the awards into two separate categories and articles. This month we are giving all the love in one story. Here are the top pitchers who really stood out in the month of May.

Honorable Mentions
While both Bryse Wilson and Elvis Peguero have had success in their roles, both have allowed a ton of walks raising their WHIP statistic to 1.46 and 1.73 on the month. Joe Ross on the other hand has improved in key aspects (3.18 ERA, 0.94 WHIP). Just missing this list was Hoby Milner who prior to his outing on Tuesday was throwing a 2.03 ERA and 0.90 WHIP in 11 games before allowing three runs and four hits in 0.2 innings. It was also hard to omit Enoli Paredes who hasn’t given up a hit in four games, *knock on wood*.

Pitchers of the Month
#4 – Jared Koenig - May Stats: 12 G, 2 GS, 2.87 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 15.2 IP, 12 H, 4 BB, 15 K
The 1,000th player to play in a Brewers uniform, Jared Koenig was signed to minor league contract back in November. He was added to the 40-man in a plethora of moves that included the DFA of Kevin Herget. April marked his return to the majors after not appearing with the Padres last season.

While his April was nothing to sneeze at (1.04 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 5 games), he just missed the top pitchers of the month. This last month, he has earned a spot on this list as one of the reliable left handers coming out of the bullpen. He is one of the few pitchers that is okay to go a couple of innings if necessary, doing so six times out of the 12 appearances this month. He was even used as an opener in back-to-back games marking the first player to do so since Zack Greinke back in 2012.

There’s no guarantee Koenig will make another start this season. However, Koenig has been used in all facets of the game whether it be in high or low leverages of the game. His 2.22 ERA on the season, is only second best out of the bullpen to another pitcher that we will get to later.

3 – Trevor Megill – May Stats: 9 G, 3.68 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 7 S, 7.1 IP, 9 H, 0 BB, 12 K
It appears the Brewers have found their closing pitcher for the time being. While nobody can replace what Devin Williams has done in the closer role, Trevor Megill has done a great job keeping the seat warm.

While he did suffer some serious food poisoning in April, no bad food in New York could keep this guy from throwing his 100 MPH flamethrower. One stat that stands out from this month is the zero walks allowed. Not to mention the near 15 strikeouts per nine innings he has recorded this month.

His other stats could be a little misleading as he was removed from a recent game after getting struck by a ball in the arm. Megill only faced one batter, throwing only three pitches. He was charged with an earned run after an inherited runner came in to score. He isn’t going to land on the injured list as he avoided a fracture as his injury is day to day.

He currently sits at a 2.57 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP which are the best recorded in his career as of May. Even when Williams comes back in July, Megill should see some significant time out of the bullpen in crucial spots.

2 – Starter of the Month - Robert Gasser – May Stats: 4 GS, 1.96 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 23.0 IP, 21 H, 1 BB, 13 K
As I said, last month we honored two separate awards for pitchers. But if we were to continue that trend for every month, it would be no surprise rookie Robert Gasser was the clear frontrunner for the May Starter of the Month.

In case you have forgotten, Gasser was one of the four pieces in the Josh Hader trade back in 2022. The Brewers #4 prospect according to MLB Pipeline was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training leaving a mark on the potential starter of the future. 

Making his debut against the Cardinals on May 10, Gasser threw six shutout innings allowing only two hits recording his first career win. In fact, he is the first Brewer to record a win in their first two career starts. Of his four starts, three of them are considered quality starts as he allowed fewer than three runs in six plus innings. 

While his strikeouts haven’t come along just yet, he did record seven strikeouts in six innings against their division rival the Chicago Cubs. He may not have gotten the win on his record, but the team was able to hold the Cubs to one run in a 5-1 effort thanks to late inning heroics. He’s only started five games as of the posting of this story, but he is making a name for himself early in his career.

*Winner* – Reliever of the Month - Bryan Hudson – May Stats: 10 G, 1.72 ERA, 0.76 WHIP, 15.2 IP, 10 H, 2 BB, 20 K
Who would’ve thought two rookies would’ve topped our list as Pitchers of the Month? Once again, we take the time to thank the Dodgers for trading Bryan Hudson to the Milwaukee Brewers. However, nobody could have predicted this type of performance in the first two months of the season.

With a 1.13 ERA, a 0.75 WHIP and 37 strikeouts in 32 innings, Hudson is performing like a, dare I say it, All Star. The only blemish from this last month was the two home runs he gave up on Thursday (thanks cubs). Otherwise, he has been lights out recording five holds and two wins this month. 

Thanks to the efforts of Hudson, we continue to thrive out of our bullpen, and we now have a few more lefties to use in multiple situations. If the Brewers need to have a quick one, two, three inning, the Crew can turn to this guy as he becomes our back-to-back, Pitcher of the Month.

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Do you agree with this list? Are there any pitchers that should be on this list? What players could we see on this list for the month of June? Come back next month as we will crown possibly a new winner for pitcher of the month.

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