Brewers' Angel Zerpa To Have Season-Ending UCL Surgery

[Steve Drumwright]

Left-hander Angel Zerpa won't be pitching again for the Milwaukee Brewers until 2027.

The reliever will undergo Tommy John surgery on his left elbow Monday. Tommy John surgery is typically a 12- to 15-month recovery, making an early target for Zerpa's return the All-Star break of next season.

Angel Zerpa is having left UCL reconstruction surgery with Dr. Keith Meister next week. He will be out until spring/summer 2027, the Brewers anticipate.

— Curt Hogg (@cyrthogg.bsky.social) May 5, 2026 at 10:33 AM

Zerpa was a big offseason acquisition, coming over in a trade from the Kansas City Royals for outfielder Isaac Collins and right-handed reliever Nick Mears. Zerpa showed out in the World Baseball Classic for Venezuela, pitching 5⅓ scoreless innings over six appearances, allowing three hits with two walks and eight strikeouts.

That performance raised expectations going into his first season with the Brewers as another potential late-inning weapon. Zerpa didn't allow a run in his first four appearances covering 4⅔ innings, walking two and striking out three. He then allowed runs in three straight and six of his next eight before hitting the 15-day injured list last week.

Zerpa has a 5.35 FIP (6.39 ERA) in those 12 games with 10.9% walk and 14.5% strikeout rates, both worse than his career numbers (7.2% and 19.4%).

 

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[bensheeps]

Ok.  Which of you is tempting fate by even posting this statement on the MLBTraderumors chat?

atleastwetried

2:15

Feel like Chafin will be a Brewer with the Zerpa news and no real idea if Koenig will be back.

[wiguy94]

Zerpa has TJ surgery announced today and Collins is 3-3 with a 2B and HR to bring up him up a 114 wRC+. That's a real gut punch.

[valpocrewsader]

WBC, F that BS.

[RWeeksFan23]

9 hours ago, wiguy94 said:

Zerpa has TJ surgery announced today and Collins is 3-3 with a 2B and HR to bring up him up a 114 wRC+. That's a real gut punch.

dang, I thought the consensus was Collins was awful this season too so far.

[dlk9s]

10 hours ago, valpocrewsader said:

WBC, F that BS.

Yes, pitching 5.1 innings destroyed his arm.

[AdvantageSchneider]

He will be in his second arbitration year.  According to our AI overlords Arby 2 relief pitchers average between $1.5 to $4M.   Is that worth giving a roster spot and that kind of salary to a relief pitcher that might only be able to pitch 3-4 months of a season?  Especially considering how good we've been at turning scrap heap relievers into serviceable pitchers.  I'm thinking Zerpa might be released at the end of the season.

[sveumrules]

6 hours ago, AdvantageSchneider said:

He will be in his second arbitration year.  According to our AI overlords Arby 2 relief pitchers average between $1.5 to $4M.   Is that worth giving a roster spot and that kind of salary to a relief pitcher that might only be able to pitch 3-4 months of a season? 

Looks like Zerpa came in at $1.095M for his first Arby season. After getting hurt he won't see much of an increase so probably closer to $1.5M for year two.

Since he will be out for most of next year too (and who knows how much of the season will maybe be lost to labor strife anyway) he also will be unlikely to see a big increase for his third Arby's trip either.

My guess is the Brewers liked him enough to trade for him so they will keep him around as a low salary flier to see if they can't eventually accomplish what they set out to.

[BallFour]

On 5/5/2026 at 8:17 PM, wiguy94 said:

Zerpa has TJ surgery announced today and Collins is 3-3 with a 2B and HR to bring up him up a 114 wRC+. That's a real gut punch.

Collins still has an fWar of 0.0 because of his defense being poor. Still not sure he is actually a MLB capable defender even in left field. He had a good first couple months defense with the Brewers and then it cratered. Playing in KC's large outfield probably doesn't help him.

Obviously sucks Zerpa got hurt but I don't think this will turn into some huge regret of a trade.