Brewers Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month: May 2024

[Spencer Michaelis]

We continue our Player of the Month series with our top four Relief Pitchers in the Brewers system for the month of May. 

Image courtesy of Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

The Brewers' minor league pitching was very impressive on the starting side of things this month, and the relievers had a lot of strong candidates as well.

Beginning with a few honorable mentions:

HONORABLE MENTIONS
RHP - Jeferson Figueroa - Carolina Mudcats - 5 G, 8.0 IP, 1-0, 2.25 ERA, 4.82 FIP, 1.13 WHIP, 4 H , 5 BB, 16 K
Figueroa was the Brewers' 32nd round pick in 2019 (which was the last draft that expanded beyond round 20) as a high schooler out of Florida. Currently showing a fastball with life at the top of the zone and touching 96-97 at times, he also throws a wipeout slider. He generated whiffs on 43.1% of swings in May.

RHP - Kaleb Bowman - Biloxi Shuckers - 8 G, 19.1 IP, 2-1, 2.33 ERA, 3.62 FIP, 0.72 WHIP, 11 H, 3 BB, 11 K
Bowman was signed out of Independent ball before the 2023 season and performed well at High-A in 2023, and has continued that strong performance through the first two months of 2024 with Biloxi, mainly by limiting walks and extra-base hits.

RHP - James Meeker - Nashville Sounds -  10 G, 13.2 IP, 1-0, 1.32 ERA, 4.22 FIP,  1.24 WHIP, 9 H, 8 BB, 14 K
Another Indy ball signing for the Brewers back in 2021, Meeker throws a four-seam, cutter, sinker, and slider and mixes them all. None stand out as above average, and he’s more of a sum of his parts pitcher, but he continues to get the job done at every level.

TOP FOUR RELIEF PITCHERS FOR MAY

#4 LHP - Anfernny Reyes - 7 G, 11.1 IP, 2-2, 1.59 ERA, 2.09 FIP, 0.88 WHIP, 8 H, 2 BB, 10 K
Unranked by all publications

Reyes was signed out of the Dominican Republic in August of 2021, at 17 years old. After a great first season in the Dominican Summer League in 2022 finishing with a 1.54 ERA in 11 starts. He moved stateside in 2023 where he continued to post solid, if unspectacular, numbers as a reliever in the Arizona Complex League, finishing with a 4.85 ERA. He returned to the level in 2024 and got off to a tremendous start in May.

Unfortunately, there has been little to no information on Reyes put out to the public, so all we know about him is that he throws left-handed and has been able to rack up strikeouts at a pretty solid rate. He continued to rack up those punchouts in May, striking out batters at a very strong 32.7% for the month. That number placed him 15th at the rookie level out of 140 pitchers with at least 12 innings. 

Reyes is already 20 years old, and seems like a candidate for a promotion to Carolina soon, based both on his performance and the advanced age for the level. Hopefully, then we will be able to learn more about what he's doing to get all of this swing and miss!

#3 RHP - Sam Gardner - Biloxi Shuckers - 7 G, 13.2 IP, 0-1, 1.98 ERA, 1.26 FIP, 0.88 WHIP, 10 H , 2 BB, 17 K
Unranked by all publications

Gardner graduated from Murray State in 2021, and after going undrafted following his senior season he signed with the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League. The Brewers purchased him from the Grizzlies in early June of 2023 and he had a strong finish to the season. He continued that run in the Australian Winter League this past offseason when he only allowed one earned run in 22.2 innings while striking out 50 batters for an absurd 19.9 K/9. This earned him a Double-A assignment to start the season where he has gotten off to a really strong start.

Gardner throws a fastball that sits in the 93-94 range and can get up a bit higher at times. The fastball works well at the top of the zone. He plays off of that fastball with a curveball that sits in the high 70s. The curve he can both land for strikes, as well as throw it out of the zone to get hitters to chase. It’s his put-away pitch, and might even be his primary pitch as he uses it quite a bit.

In May, Gardner was able to continue doing what he does best; racking up strikeouts and limiting walks. His 8.5 K/BB ratio placed him in the 95th percentile among Double-A pitchers with at least seven innings in May. He generated whiffs at an above-average rate of 31.7%, which placed him in the 73rd percentile. However, in two-strike counts, his whiff rate balloons to 41.2% which is in the 95th percentile. He aims to get soft contact early in counts and then knows how to put a hitter away when he has him in pitcher’s counts.

Unfortunately, Gardner ended the month on the 7-Day IL for the Shuckers, and we are currently unsure of what his return timeline is looking like. Once he does return, he’s a definite candidate for Nashville with him being 27 years old and having so much success with Biloxi.

#2 RHP - Bayden Root - Carolina Mudcats and Wisconsin Timber Rattlers - 9 G, 12.1 IP, 1-0, 0.73 ERA, 2.79 FIP, 1.38 WHIP, 10 H, 7 BB, 16 K, 4 SV.
Unranked by all publications

Root signed with the Brewers as an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma State, following the 2023 draft. He began his career at Ohio State before transferring to the other OSU for his final season, where he worked exclusively out of the bullpen. While he performed decently in college, the combination of age and being a relief only prospect kept Root from being drafted. 

What interested the Brewers was likely his pure stuff and his competitiveness. He’s a very fiery competitor who isn’t afraid to show some emotion after recording a big out.. Root throws a two-seam fastball in the 94-95 range with up to 19 inches of run on it. His best secondary is his mid-80s slider that gets up to 19 inches of glove-side movement on it and can show very sharp breaks at times. He also throw a four-seam fastball that he can throw a bit harder than his two-seam, though the metrics on the four-seam aren’t great. He rounds out the repertoire with a mid-80s changeup that can also get up to 18 inches of run, though he doesn’t use it much and it’s a pitch he hasn’t shown a propensity for being able to command. 

Root’s first eight appearances of the month came as a member of the Mudcats, before being promoted to High-A for his final outing.  Root did not generate a ton of whiffs (39th percentile), though his strikeout rate of 30.8% placed him in the 78th percentile for Low-A and High-A pitchers who threw at least seven innings in May. What he did do well though, was keep the ball out of the air. His 65.5% ground ball rate placed him in the 98th percentile for the month and helped him to only allow one extra-base hit (a double) for the entire month. He did walk hitters a bit too often, coming in at a 13.5% clip, but even if you walk a lot of guys, you can limit the damage with strikeouts and ground balls which is what Root did to get through the month.

Having just been promoted to High-A, Root will likely be there for a while as he continues to work on sharpening his command. He has the stuff to be a pretty decent reliever if he can be in and around the zone more often.

#1 RHP - Craig Yoho - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers - 8 G, 12.1 IP, 0-0, 0.73 ERA, 1.65 FIP, 0.73 WHIP, 5 H , 4 BB, 21 K, 4 SV.
Unranked by all publications

The Brewers 8th round selection in the 2023 draft out of Indiana, Yoho is the only one of these arms that appears to already be slotted into a relief role in the future. At one time a position player in college, he transitioned to a two-way role for a couple of seasons, but after battling quite a few injuries, he finished his college career as a pitcher only. 2023 was his first season focusing solely on pitching. Because of his lack of experience, despite his advanced age, he likely came into pro ball with some untapped potential.

Yoho may not throw as hard as most elite relievers, only sitting in the 91-93 range with his fastball, but his pitch mix is as impressive as any pitcher in the system. He throws his fastball with nearly 20 inches of arm side run, a changeup that appears to be very similar to the Devin Williams “Airbender”, as well as a sweeping curveball and a high-80s cutter. You can read more about the pitch mix in this article from April 22nd. 

As he did when he took second place on this list in April, Yoho used his four pitches to keep hitters off balance all month. Per Tru-Media he racked up a whiff rate of 44.4%, which placed him in the 98th percentile among High-A pitchers with seven or more innings. Under those same qualifications, Yoho was in the 98th percentile for called strike rate, coming in at 41.5%. He was freezing hitters and landing his pitches in the zone as often as anybody, and when they did swing, there was not much contact. That is a good place to be as a pitcher, and that’s not to mention that when hitters did make contact, it was on the ground 60% of the time, which also placed him in the 93rd percentile. While Yoho did finally allow an earned run in May, hitters still looked completely hopeless against Yoho in both April and May.

Yoho has been promoted to Double-A as of this article being published, and his first outing was two innings pitched, no hits, no free passes, and five strikeouts. The only runner that reached was on an error. Yoho could impact the Brewers bullpen this year, but even if he doesn’t get to MLB it would seem that Double-A could be a short stop for him and Nashville could be in the cards soon.

Thanks for following along with this three-part series on the Brewers minor league system. Let us know your thoughts below! Did we miss anybody?

View full article

[Ro Mueller]

Isn’t it already the Craig Yoho Minor League Reliever of the Month Award?

Carolina’s lineup is a bit depleted, so hopefully Reyes gets the opportunity and succeeds with it.

[Joseph Zarr]

Despite a couple hiccups mid-month, I likely still include RHP K.C. Hunt. Known Hunt Stan - he belongs in the main list, imho. 17 K: 10 IP: 1 BB? Ummmm, yeah. I don't really care about the elevated 4.50 ERA in the month due to two extended relief outings (debut in High-A no less). 0.231 BAA with a 1.00 WHIP switching Leagues and maintaining a 17:1 K:BB ratio while picking up 2 W and 1 SV in 1 SVO? I'll use him as Yoho's set-up man 7-Days a week and not blink twice knowing I may need that set-up for 3 innings.

If he had pitched more, I likely include RHP Stiven Cruz as an honorable mention. Cruz has absolutely turned it around as a reliever for High-A Wisconsin after major struggles starting in 2023. May is essentially the month he re-appeared back on the map. Solid solid work - albeit, only in 6 outings spanning 6 innings.

As an aside, if I could take away 75 % of RHP Jesus Rivero's May, I'd probably include him too. 

[Spencer Michaelis]

3 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Despite a couple hiccups mid-month, I likely still include RHP K.C. Hunt. Known Hunt Stan - he belongs in the main list, imho. 17 K: 10 IP: 1 BB? Ummmm, yeah. I don't really care about the elevated 4.50 ERA in the month due to two extended relief outings (debut in High-A no less). 0.231 BAA with a 1.00 WHIP switching Leagues and maintaining a 17:1 K:BB ratio while picking up 2 W and 1 SV in 1 SVO? I'll use him as Yoho's set-up man 7-Days a week and not blink twice knowing I may need that set-up for 3 innings.

If he had pitched more, I likely include RHP Stiven Cruz as an honorable mention. Cruz has absolutely turned it around as a reliever for High-A Wisconsin after major struggles starting in 2023. May is essentially the month he re-appeared back on the map. Solid solid work - albeit, only in 6 outings spanning 6 innings.

As an aside, if I could take away 75 % of RHP Jesus Rivero's May, I'd probably include him too. 

Hunt was actually on my list for the honorable mentions and it appears I completely forgot to include him… whoops! I’m a big believer as well though, have been since you turned me onto him lol. Those breaking balls are ridiculous.