Tobias Myers is Chasing Some Brewers History, and Maybe Some MLB Hardware

[Harold Hutchison]

Back in January, I reviewed potential non-roster invitees to spring training for the Brewers. One entry in particular seems worth a look after the way the 2024 season has unfolded for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Here's what I wrote about a certain non-roster pitching project, just before camp opened.

Quote

“Tobias Myers
Like McKendry, Myers hasn’t received the hype of the top pitching prospects. In this case, he is more like Andruw Monasterio, given that he arrived as a minor-league free agent in the previous offseason and received an NRI this year. Again, his call-up might come based on a rotation spot. Still, Monasterio and Rea have both demonstrated a player doesn’t have to be a top prospect to be a big hero.”

Monasterio and Colin Rea have each made legitimate impacts in 2023 and 2024. Monasterio rightly earned the Brewer Fanatic Top Rookie of 2023 award for what he delivered after he came up following a line drive that concussed Willy Adames, while Rea has blossomed into a reliable mid-rotation starter since he replaced Brandon Woodruff in May 2023. Like Monasterio and Rea, Myers came up due to an injury (Wade Miley’s left elbow inflammation, which turned into Tommy John surgery), and like Monasterio, Myers had a long journey to Milwaukee.

He came to the Crew on Nov. 10, 2022, as arguably Matt Arnold’s first signing after David Stearns suddenly stepped down. Before that, he had been drafted by the Orioles, then traded to Tampa for Tim Beckham. Tampa, in turn, dealt Myers to Cleveland for Junior Caminero. After that, he had a rough 2022 season and was purchased by the Giants, before the White Sox snagged him on a waiver claim. The White Sox gave him his release in September of that year.

After Myers signed with the Brewers, he spent 2023 in Double-A Biloxi, where some of the surface numbers weren’t good, but he also flashed a good strikeout-to-walk ratio. He posted two relief outings in Nashville last in the season. He was good enough to get an invitation to spring training in 2024--where he posted a 7.88 ERA in four outings. Myers started off in Nashville for two games, then got the call-up to Milwaukee as injuries ravaged the team.

He hasn’t been on the Milwaukee-Nashville shuttle, though. He rode it once, but only got a chance to make one abbreviated appearance with the Sounds in mid-May before an injury to Joe Ross brought him right back to the big leagues. Since getting a second chance born just as much of necessity as the first, he's been on fire. Entering his start in St. Louis Wednesday night, Myers has appeared in 19 games, starting 18 (he picked up one win by pitching the 7th inning, right after being recalled while out of phase in the rotation), posting a 2.81 ERA, a 1.11 WHIP, 85 strikeouts and 25 walks. That is superb performance on its own merits, and arguably a key reason why the Brewers are in a commanding position in the National League Central despite having so many pitchers from the Opening Day roster on the injured list.

This understates Myers’s performance, though. Like the highly-touted Jackson Chourio, Myers has kicked it up another level since Jun. 1. He’s pitched 72 2/3 innings, with 58 strikeouts against 15 walks. Most impressively, his ERA is 1.86, and the WHIP is 0.98. The list of Brewers with a better 12-start stretch in the last 40 years (more than 70 innings, an ERA of 1.86 or lower) conveys just how special a run Myers is on:

• Teddy Higuera, 1988
• Cal Edlred, 1992
• Jeff D'Amico, 2000
• Ben Sheets, 2004
• CC Sabathia, 2008
• Yovani Gallardo, 2010
• Mike Fiers, 2012
• Brandon Woodruff, 2021

Admittedly, Myers probably has more in common with Fiers and D'Amico than with Sabathia or Sheets. Still, his acquisition and development is a huge credit to Arnold, the team’s scouting and coaching department, just on the basis of this year’s performance.

If he can sustain this brilliance for just one more start, to help put boot to neck on the unbeloved Cardinals, he'll enter territory unsullied by the previous occupancy of Fiers, or even Higuera. But whether he does that or not, Myers is perhaps the most impactful non-roster invitee the Brewers have had since Rob Deer in 1986. Arguably, he should not just be the Brewers' top rookie of 2024 and the team’s unsung hero of the year, but a serious candidate for National League Rookie of the Year.

Even when compared to Jackson Chourio, he's not substantially outshined. That's saying a lot.

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[rolafaive]

Doesn't have name recognition and is not on a glitzy team, the baseball writers hardly ever write about Brewer Players, so though he should be in conversation, he won't be.