Brewers Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month - April 2024

To begin with a small disclaimer, the Mudcats complicated the choices by having a lot of “tandem” starts. This led to a number of pitchers with starter innings, but with very few, if any, starts. Because of this a very scientific cutoff of 13 IP was set in order to be eligible for the list.

We begin with a few honorable mentions, who may have made the list in a different month. 

Honorable Mentions
RHP - Tobias Myers - Nashville Sounds - 4 G, 3 GS, 16.2 IP, 2-1, 1.62 ERA, 3.87 FIP, 1.08 WHIP, 11 H , 7 BB, 22 K.
RHP - TJ Shook - Biloxi Shuckers - 4 G, 4 GS, 18.2 IP, 1-2, 2.89 ERA, 2.56 FIP, 1.18 WHIP, 15 H , 7 BB, 25 K.
RHP - Manuel Rodriguez - Carolina Mudcats - 4 G, 4 GS, 20.0 IP, 1-2, 3.15 ERA, 3.70 FIP, 0.95 WHIP, 15 H , 2 BB, 18 K.

TOP 5 STARTING PITCHERS FOR APRIL

#5 RHP - Brett Wichrowski - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers - 4 G, 4 GS, 14.2 IP, 0-1, 2.45 ERA, 2.43 FIP, 1.09 WHIP, 13 H, 3 BB, 21 K.
Unranked by all publications
The Brewers 13th round selection in last year's draft, Wichrowski has been one of the hottest names in prospect circles since he showed up in Arizona for spring training. Drafted out of Bryant University, Wichrowski was splitting time between starting and relieving in college. This is a pitcher that any organization could have drafted and signed for his $100,000 signing bonus less than a year ago, Wichrowski is now viewed as a potential Top 10 prospect in a loaded Brewers system. 

Previously sitting in the 91-93 MPH range with his fastball (topping out at 96), Wichrowski showed up this spring and was sitting 96-98 and got up to 101 with his fastball. Being that those were shorter stints, that velocity hasn’t quite held up in Appleton, where he is sitting more in the 94-96 range, though he has still touched 98. He is mixing in two different fastballs, with a four seamer and a sinker both in his repertoire.

Beyond his velocity improvements, his already solid slider in college has become an absolute weapon. This is a plus-plus offering with a ton of sharp, sweeping movement. Much like his fastball though, he seems to throw two different versions of the slider. One being the sharp sweeper that is thrown in the upper 70’s for the most part. The other one has a bit of a cutter shape to it, or a shorter slider. The shorter one comes in around 85. He also mixes in a changeup that he seems to add and subtract velocity from as well.

The most noticeable part of Wichrowski’s game is that he’s a pitcher, he’s not a “thrower”. He adds and subtracts velocity, he mixes the shapes and the planes on his pitches, and he did all of those things in April, while showing tremendous command at the same time. He did struggle a bit with the extra base hit in April, allowing six doubles and a home run, and that will be something to monitor. Outside of that, Wichrowski struck hitters out at a 33.9% rate and walked them at a 4.8% rate. Those placed him in the 85th and 88th percentile respectively, per Tru-Media, amongst High-A starters with at least 13 innings in April.

Wichrowski was rewarded for his strong month plus, going back to spring training as well, with a promotion to Double-A Biloxi. The 13th rounder only needed 14 1/3 professional innings to make it to Double-A. The Brewers may have found the best value in the entire draft with his selection.

#4 RHP - Tyler Woessner - Biloxi Shuckers - 4 G, 4 GS, 20.1 IP, 0-1, 2.66 ERA, 1.92 FIP, 1.18 WHIP, 20 H , 4 BB, 29 K.

The Brewers sixth round selection in the 2022 draft, Woessner was quite a bit older than the average JUCO arm when he was drafted. He had a solid, if unspectacular season in Appleton in 2023, posting an ERA of 4.02. He arrived at spring training showing off an increase in his velocity, and the Brewers saw enough to start him in Double-A. He rewarded them with a fantastic start to the season.

Woessner throws the kitchen sink at hitters, though he does it with multiple above average offerings. His two fastballs have been sitting in the 94-96 MPH range, and he has been able to hold that into the sixth inning and as his pitch count climbs up to 70-80 pitches. He had touched 99 in spring, but that was in a shorter stint. He throws both a riding four seamer up in the zone, as well as a sinker that he uses more often down in the zone. His breaking balls are his best offerings presently, with two different slider shapes (a sweeper and a shorter slider) both generating a lot of swing and miss. His curveball is a knuckle-curve and has also been a good putaway pitch for him. Woessner also mixes in a changeup that shows pretty good depth at times. It’s a six pitch mix, and it gave Double-A hitters fits in April.

Courtesy of Tru-Media, Woessner finished the month in the 93rd percentile for whiff rate at 37.3%, as well as strikeout rate at 34.5%. His ability to get swing and miss was a welcome sight, as that was one area of his game that was somewhat in question coming into the year. Not only did he get a lot of swing and miss but he did it without having any control issues to go with it, as evidenced by only handing out four walks. His Strikeout-to-Walk ratio of 7.25 was in the 91st percentile for Double-A starters in April.

Woessner was promoted to Nashville on April 30th, and looks like an arm that could potentially impact the Brewers MLB roster at some point if he continues to produce anything close to what he showed in April.

#3 RHP - Yujanyer Herrera - Carolina Mudcats - 4 G, 0 GS, 17.0 IP, 3-0, 2.12 ERA, 1.64 FIP, 0.94 WHIP, 10 H, 6 BB, 27 K.
Unranked by all publications
Herrera was signed as part of the 2019 international signing class. When he was promoted to Carolina during the 2022 season, Herrera was only 18. This aggressive promotion, mixed with some preliminary knowledge of his pitch mix, had Herrera checking a lot of boxes for a potential breakout. Unfortunately, he followed the promotion with command struggles and quite a bit of loud contact allowed. Thus, he headed into the 2024 season without much attention. Despite the fact that he hasn’t actually made a start, 

In April, Herrera appeared to be on a mission to regain that attention. He used his four pitch mix of fastball, changeup, slider and curveball to largely dominate his competition. You can read more about the pitch mix itself in this article from April 22nd.

The ability to generate a lot of swings and misses showed up as a theme for most of the pitchers on this list and Herrera was no exception. Herrera used his mid 90’s fastball and array of breaking balls and changeups to generate a 41.8% whiff rate for the month, placing him in the 92nd percentile for Low-A pitchers who threw at least 13 innings (per Tru-Media). His strikeout rate of 42.2% placed him in the 96th percentile. When he wasn’t missing bats, Herrera was also able to keep the ball in the ballpark, only allowing three extra base hits, none of which left the yard. 

Herrera’s month was highlighted by a nine strikeout performance in only four innings on April 12th. He only allowed one baserunner, which came by way of a base hit. 

After such an impressive month, the Brewers have once again made an aggressive promotion with Herrera, bumping him up a level to High-A where he will make his next appearance for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

#2 RHP - Yorman Galindez - Carolina Mudcats - 4 G, 4 GS, 13.0 IP, 0-0, 2.08 ERA, 2.91 FIP, 1.00 WHIP, 13 H, 7 BB, 24 K.
Unranked by all publications
Signed by the Brewers in the 2022 international signing class out of Venezuela, Galindez was 19 at the time of his signing and is 21 now. After being aggressively promoted to Carolina last season, he seems to have made a leap in 2024. 

While his fastball previously sat in the low 90’s and touched 94, it has been sitting in the 94-95 range in this season. It appears to have some run on it, but it still plays well at the top of the zone. His best pitch though, is his hammer of a curveball. He appears to be comfortable throwing it in any count. He can land it for strikes or use it as his out pitch to generate whiffs out of the zone. However, the pitch that might have helped him make the leap more than anything else, is his slider. Previously a distant third offering for him, the slider seems to be coming into its own as a really strong third pitch. The pitch has sweep, and the improvement it has seen has really helped Galindez attack east and west, rather than only being able to go north and south as he had in the past.

Galindez continues the trend of pitchers on this list who generated a lot of whiffs. According to Tru-Media, Galindez’s strikeout rate of 45.3% ranked in the 97th percentile for Low-A starters (minimum of 13 innings pitched) in April, and his whiff rate of 47% was also in the 97th percentile. He was generating swings and misses at a ridiculous level. While seven walks in 13 innings is a bit too high, Galindez didn’t let the walks become a bigger issue because he only allowed six total hits, two of which were extra base hits. The combination of swing and miss to go along with his ground ball rate of 61.9%, which was in the 92nd percentile, placed him in some pretty impressive company. 

Aside from Galindez, only Quinn Matthews and George Klassen ranked in the 90th percentile or better in both whiff rate and ground ball rate for Low-A pitchers. Both Matthews and Klassen are seen as two of the fastest rising pitching prospects in baseball and both of them are at least one year older than Galindez.

Galindez’s strong start and the fact that he did have some experience in Low-A prior to this season, make him another potential candidate for an early promotion to Appleton.

#1 RHP - Bradley Blalock - Biloxi Shuckers - 4 G, 4 GS, 20.0 IP, 3-1, 1.35 ERA, 3.15 FIP, 0.85 WHIP, 17 H, 5 BB, 15 K.

Blalock was acquired from the Red Sox in a one-for-one trade of Luis Urias at the 2023 trade deadline. A 32nd round selection of the Sox in 2019, Blalock has risen through the ranks, despite having Tommy John surgery in 2022. When he returned from the surgery his stuff had taken a step forward, and despite the fact Blalock was only able to make four starts for the Brewers High-A affiliate after being acquired, the organization thought highly enough of him to protect him from the Rule 5 draft this offseason by adding him to the 40 man roster. If his April is any indication, they made the correct choice.

Blalock is pitching above High-A for the first time in his career, and based on his performance he has been up to the challenge. He began the year on a 17 inning scoreless streak, generating loads of weak contact and some swing and miss as well. April finished on a lower note for him, going only three innings with three earned runs allowed in his final start, but this still kept his ERA at an impressive 1.35 for the month.

Blalock’s best pitch is his fastball. His fastball is sitting in the 94-96 range this season, while at times generating an otherworldly 23 inches of induced vertical break and tends to sit more in the 20 inch range. A reminder that anything over 18 inches is considered an outlier in terms of the amount of ride he is getting. His over-the-top delivery could admittedly take some of the effectiveness away from that extremely high IVB, but at the same time his delivery helps his two breaking balls play up a bit as it allows him to hide the ball a bit longer than most pitchers.

Throwing both a slider and a curveball, you can seemingly flip a coin to figure out which one will be better on any given night. Both show flashes of being above average pitches, but he has seemed to struggle to get both of them going at the same time, in the same game. He also mixes in a changeup which he commands really well, though the shape of the pitch leaves something to be desired. Blalock’s generally strong command helps all four of his pitches play up, and his 6.7% walk rate in April was well above average for the Double-A level.

Blalock did lack the punch-outs the other pitchers on this list were able to amass, with only a 20% strikeout rate. This seemingly can be attributed to hitters going to the plate and just trying to get the ball in play against him. Hitters were consistently off balance and he was able to cause a lot of mistimed swings. There was very little hard contact allowed. Strikeouts may not be a huge part of his game moving forward, but with his combination of pure stuff and strong command, it does seem likely that they will increase over time.

Already on the 40 man, Blalock could be a candidate for a Triple-A promotion in the near future, especially as the Brewers and Sounds continue to cycle through pitchers, leaving Nashville short-handed at times.

Please share your opinions! Who should have made it that didn’t? Who made it, but should not have?

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