Ashby appreciation thread

[markedman5]

Obviously was huge last night but he has quietly had a really nice season. Not only has he pitched well but with all the injuries to the staff he has been available ever since he returned early in the season.

Murphy mentioned it in the post game last night how important his availability has been to the team.

His stuff is filthy 

[wiguy94]

He's been extremely good as a RP his whole career. If Brewers just let him focus on being a multi-inning reliever he could be a great weapon.

[Playing Catch]

He's certainly justified the team's faith in his potential contributions when they signed him to that deal. Even if he's been hurt or ineffective at times, the quality of his stuff is apparent, and shows why they wanted to lock him in.

In terms of his contributions to this year's team, he's a huge piece to the bullpen, especially in a playoff series with multiple off days. He can really bridge the game to the backend, "leverage" guys.

[sveumrules]

Yeah, Ashby has been one of the most dominant relief arms on a rate basis the last two seasons, only thing missing is the quantity with just 67 IP (194th). Ranks are among 224 relivers min. 60 IP since last year...

119 LOB+ (2nd) | 45 ERA- (4th) | 58 FIP- (4th) | 137 GB%+ (10th) | 36 HR9+ (12th) | 140 K%+ (20th) | 78 WHIP+ (24th) | 81 AVG+ (34th) | 2.2 rWAR (34th) | 1.5 fWAR (57th) | +1.61 WPA (58th)

Walks (91 BB+ | 72nd) have been his biggest performance bugaboo and he's still been better than average there.

[kestrel79]

I know many here agree but think he has the nastiest stuff on the team when he's on. Just filthy how much movement he gets on all his pitches with high velocity...buttt sometimes it's too much movement and he walks too many yep. 

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

He's entering that Hader echelon of "young lefty with great stuff who is dominating". I know we are in a good place for starting pitching right now, but it wouldn't surprise me to see Ashby get another crack at the rotation in the years to come.

[SF70]

44 minutes ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

He's entering that Hader echelon of "young lefty with great stuff who is dominating". I know we are in a good place for starting pitching right now, but it wouldn't surprise me to see Ashby get another crack at the rotation in the years to come.

Yeah like next year again. Injuries have kept him from rotationing. Health-willing they should try again next ST.

His stuff lends itself to starting — 4 plus pitches — extreme GB rate. Command is always the last to come and it should eventually with consistent starts.

Without command he’s still a mid-rotation starter, with it, a #1 starter.

[markedman5]

With Trevor getting hurt he’s going to get more high leverage opportunities now

[ReverendBrewmeister]

12 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

With Trevor getting hurt he’s going to get more high leverage opportunities now

With the comparisons made between Hader and Ashby, I've wondered for a good while whether Ashby could possibly become a dominant reliever. Maybe develop him as a potential closer. Though the closing opportunities will likely fall to Uribe now for the near future, it would be interesting to see if Ashby would assume that mantle at times.

[Fairweather_Crew]

Ashby being trusted tonight. How many innings will be go is my question (if pitching good of course). I wonder if he can be a 6-7 inning guy one day. Everyone talks about relief, he does throw hard.

Final thought. Am I imagining it or does his fastball tail away the opposite direction you think it would. I keep saying that is weird movement. Am I imagining it?

[Playing Catch]

I like Ashby in the role he's in. multi-inning lefties with dominant-stuff are a rare breed and mesh perfectly with the Brewers' piggy-backing model. Those right-handed starters with 3 pitches are so much better when the team doesn't expect them to go 6 innings. It also allows for using lefties as openers against teams that feature multiple lefty bats at the top of their order.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE innings-eaters that can navigate a game with runners on-base, like Priester, Woody, or Quintana. But I love Freddy or Misiorowski for what they provide. They are dominant five-and-divers. Having a lefty like Ashby/Hall/Gasser follow them, or those other righties that struggle getting through a lineup more than a couple of times, not only can be effective in trying to win a baseball game, but it's effective at helping to schedule out your bullpen over the course of a homestand or road-trip.

Good middle relief is a truly underrated factor for winning teams. It's a major reason the Brewers lead baseball in comeback wins (although having a great offense obviously helps as well).

[torts]

In Ashby we trust!

Glad we signed him with team options thru 2029!  I could see him going back into the rotation

[shanedog19]

Ashby has been awesome, what a comeback story. He should be moved into high leverage situations, with perhaps Robert Gasser sliding into Ashby's long relief role. Ashby should be in serious consideration for the starting rotation next season.

[hawing]

Not ultra on-topic for this discussion, but Aaron has been warming up to 1989 Young MC anthem Bust A Move this year, and that makes me smile every time. 

[bm1090]

9 hours ago, shanedog19 said:

Ashby has been awesome, what a comeback story. He should be moved into high leverage situations, with perhaps Robert Gasser sliding into Ashby's long relief role. Ashby should be in serious consideration for the starting rotation next season.

Agree until your last sentence. Would love to see him in more high leverage spots and we're trending that way. But we have tons of starting pitching options and I think Ashby is better suited as a reliever.

[thebruce44]

I wonder how he would do in a closer or setup role. Especially with McGill on the IL.

[Baldkin]

22.1 innings in 34 days is a ton. 

13.1 innings in 16 days and 9 appearances is abuse. 

Murph is going to break Ashby using him like this. 

[Brian]

On 8/28/2025 at 11:06 PM, thebruce44 said:

I wonder how he would do in a closer or setup role. Especially with McGill on the IL.

Ashby has the best stuff there is but as Bill Schroeder said: "Ashby needs to corral it."