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.

[BigWoo53]

I don't think Collins is a great player but a serviceable guy who can play a starter role. I don't love trading for a relief pitcher for a (nearly) everyday, controllable position player (plus a reliever in Mears). I just think can get more than a RP for a starting position player. Just don't love that value. Can it work out sometimes? Sure. 

[cragi]

zerpa in the WBC looked like he could be special so hard to know where the problems really started. You cant win every trade but they gave up Siegler/Collins/Durbin/Monasterio/Comp and got Harrison/Sproat/Drohan/Hamilton/Zerpa. Thats an amazing pitching haul. The pieces they gave up were placeholders for the waves of upper level talent in the minors right now.

If Collins stays, what chances do you get for Bauers & Lockridge, not to mention Lara & Black?  
Collins .685 OPS
Lockridge .710
Bauers .847

Durbin .491
Hamilton .570
Monasterio .698

The brewers flipped redundant filler for prospects with real upside once again

[long ball]

On 5/9/2026 at 7:49 AM, sveumrules said:

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.

I initially thought they’d non-tender him,  but after some further thought I tend to agree with you. 
 

minimal raise over arb1 salary. Not that much more than a league minimum salary of a pre-arb pitcher. He will still have 1 option remaining. We liked him enough to acquire him and he should hopefully be back at some point in the second half of next year. I think it’s worth a flier. Maybe offer a 2 year deal worth like $2m? Zerpa gets a big league deal and service time while he rehabs instead of a non tender and what might be a minor league deal. Brewers reduce the cost of 2027 whiles he’s out much of the year, but take on a little added risk by giving him guaranteed money in 2028. 

[owbc]

9 hours ago, cragi said:

zerpa in the WBC looked like he could be special so hard to know where the problems really started. You cant win every trade but they gave up Siegler/Collins/Durbin/Monasterio/Comp and got Harrison/Sproat/Drohan/Hamilton/Zerpa. Thats an amazing pitching haul. The pieces they gave up were placeholders for the waves of upper level talent in the minors right now.

If Collins stays, what chances do you get for Bauers & Lockridge, not to mention Lara & Black?  
Collins .685 OPS
Lockridge .710
Bauers .847

Durbin .491
Hamilton .570
Monasterio .698

The brewers flipped redundant filler for prospects with real upside once again

Can't wait to see which team we sucker into giving us prospects for Lockridge this offseason. 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

On 5/9/2026 at 7:49 AM, sveumrules said:

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.

This.

I liked Isaac Collins, but he's really not any different than Lockridge, Perkins, Badoo, etc. He's a guy who can be fine for you and put together good ABs, but the Brewers have that in spades. Mears is doing well enough with the Royals, but he's got less control than Zerpa, and is making twice the salary.

The Brewers took a low risk flyer on a guy they thought had upside. That upside is not going to show up this year, unfortunately. But he'll have another shot. Good bullpen arms are expensive. If you think he's got the stuff, you shell out a measly $2M for a guy who might well be a late-inning option down the stretch next year. 

Not every move works right away, or at all. The process is what matters, and I think that was sound here. We can reasonably disagree about the utility of Isaac Collins on this roster. My belief is that he wouldn't add anything. I'm open to the idea he'd be a slight upgrade. I just don't think this is a trade we'll know the outcome of for a few years, and even if we lose it, it won't be because we made a mistake. It'll be because sometimes trades just don't work out.

And, besides, isn't it nice to "lose" a trade every once in a while just so teams keep coming back to you for business? (half blue)

[duewizard]

10 hours ago, cragi said:

zerpa in the WBC looked like he could be special so hard to know where the problems really started. You cant win every trade but they gave up Siegler/Collins/Durbin/Monasterio/Comp and got Harrison/Sproat/Drohan/Hamilton/Zerpa. Thats an amazing pitching haul. The pieces they gave up were placeholders for the waves of upper level talent in the minors right now.

If Collins stays, what chances do you get for Bauers & Lockridge, not to mention Lara & Black?  
Collins .685 OPS
Lockridge .710
Bauers .847

Durbin .491
Hamilton .570
Monasterio .698

The brewers flipped redundant filler for prospects with real upside once again

Yeah. Only guy we really miss is Monasterio (waaaay better than Hamilton or Rengifo) but I do prefer having Harrison + Drohan over him

[Team Canada]

1 minute ago, duewizard said:

Only guy we really miss is Monasterio (waaaay better than Hamilton or Rengifo) but I do prefer having Harrison + Drohan over him

Understatement of the century.

[igor67]

Yes things look way ahead on this trade, but for me a big part of trusting the process is understanding from time to time we will 'lose' a trade like this. The mid career guys we trade away may well go on to have some more good years, and the young guys may not develop or suffer unfortunate injuries. On some level it's not different than acknowledging if money was no object everyone would have been excited to sign Bo Bichette, but it's hard to look at this poor of a start as a problem with the decision to give him a contract.

[sveumrules]

Something else to consider is even if the Brewers have "lost" this trade so far what has it really cost them? Maybe one win at most?

Zerpa was credited with two losses and -0.38 WPA before getting hurt. Mears has a shinier ERA (with some ugly peripherals under the hood) but has also been credited with two losses and -0.11 WPA. Isaac Collins has a 92 wRC+ and -0.2 WAR. 

[liveforoctober]

8 minutes ago, duewizard said:

Yeah. Only guy we really miss is Monasterio (waaaay better than Hamilton or Rengifo) but I do prefer having Harrison + Drohan over him

BRef numbers:

Hamilton .4WAR

Mona .2WAR

If Mona -> Hamilton was the part of the trade the Brewers 'missed' on then this was the heist of the century.

I don't mind someone liking Mona over Hamilton as a player but I'm pretty firm personally on who is the better fit for this specific team. Having a LH shortstop option to spell Ortiz has been a very underappreciated value add.

[owbc]

4 hours ago, liveforoctober said:

BRef numbers:

Hamilton .4WAR

Mona .2WAR

If Mona -> Hamilton was the part of the trade the Brewers 'missed' on then this was the heist of the century.

I don't mind someone liking Mona over Hamilton as a player but I'm pretty firm personally on who is the better fit for this specific team. Having a LH shortstop option to spell Ortiz has been a very underappreciated value add.

After an offseason of roster turnover and projections that we would lose 10-15 wins off our 2025 total, our biggest loss was one of our bench utility guys? That's insane. 

We traded away our #1 starting pitcher and he's having a pretty good season with his new team and somehow our rotation is ranked higher in WAR this year vs. last year (#5 vs. #6 in MLB).