Brewers Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month - May 2023

We close out our MiLB Player of the Month series with our top five Relief Pitchers for the month of May. This list was the most difficult of the group. There weren’t as many dominant performances by the relievers as there were in April, but a group of five did stand out above the rest. We will begin with a couple of honorable mentions.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
RHP - Tanner Shears - Carolina Mudcats - 6 G, 9.0 IP, 0-1, 1.00 ERA, 4.42 FIP, 1.78 WHIP, 9 H , 7 BB, 14 K.
An Independent league signing by the Brewers, Shears has been working through some command issues but has filthy stuff. His splitter is a borderline elite pitch that completely kills spin at 83-86. His fastball has arm side run, but sits mid-90's and touches higher. It does a great job riding up in the zone and plays well with the big splitter. He also mixes in a slider as a solid third pitch that gets some sweep in the mid-80's as well. Shears struck out a lot of batters in May, but also walked a lot and gave up his fair share of hits too. The results were a little flukey, but with his pure stuff, he can get himself into and out of danger.

LHP - Ethan Small - Nashville Sounds - 4 G, 9.0 IP, 0-1, 1.00 ERA, 2.94 FIP, 1.22 WHIP, 4 H , 7 BB, 13 K.
The good news for Small is that his MLB stats do not count for this list, as he was much more successful in Triple-A. Most everyone knows what the deal is with Small at this point. If he can command his pitches on any given day he will have success. His fastball is a good pitch and his changeup is a great pitch. The issue is that he doesn’t often command his pitches, and his third pitch is still very much developing. Small is a smart guy with an understanding of what works best for him. Hopefully he can reign in his command and become a successful major league reliever.

TOP FIVE RELIEF PITCHERS FOR APRIL

#5 RHP - TJ Shook - Biloxi Shuckers - 4 G, 15.0 IP, 0-1, 1.80 ERA, 2.98 FIP, 0.93 WHIP, 11 H, 3 BB, 20 K.

Unranked by all publications

TJ Shook was an Undrafted Free Agent following the 2020 MLB Draft. Having only five rounds due to COVID killed his chances of getting drafted, but he was a high priority UDFA for the organization. Shook throws one of the best changeups in the Brewers system, at times it will look like one of the best changeups in baseball. While his changeup is his best pitch, he is able to run his fastball up into the mid-90’s and it often will play well up in the zone, though it does flatten out at times which is when he gets into trouble. Shook also mixes in a slider that is short and sharp, at times appearing to be more of a cutter movement than a slider. Velocity wise the slider is in the 85-87 range for the most part. 

Shook didn’t have the greatest April, but wasted no time turning his season around once the calendar flipped. In his first outing in May, Shook worked four innings out of the bullpen and struck out seven, only allowing one run. He followed that up with two scoreless appearances (in terms of earned runs), including six strikeouts in three innings on the 20th. It is important to note that while his ERA looks really good, he did end up allowing eight runs in May, though only three were earned. While his defense clearly did not help him out, he also seemed to be unable to pick them up either. 

Based on his usage this month, it is possible the Brewers and Shuckers are still working to stretch him out as a starter, as all of his appearances did last at least three innings. Likely not one that will be moving from Biloxi this year, consistency is going to be key for him. He does a decent job limiting walks, but his in zone command can use work. If he puts it together, Shook does have the stuff to find a role as a major league pitcher in the future. 

#4 RHP - Zach Vennaro - Biloxi Shuckers - 9 G, 10.2 IP, 1-1, 1.69 ERA, 2.74 FIP, 1.03 WHIP, 5 H , 6 BB, 15 K, 1 SV.

Vennaro is a bit older than the average prospect, and his first few years in the Brewers system didn’t produce the greatest numbers on the surface. However, he does possess a very interesting arm. Previously sitting more in the 93-96 range with his fastball, Vennaro now stays around 95-98. He comes at hitters with a lower arm slot and a funky delivery while his fastball runs in on the hands of right handed hitters. He also throws a slider that gets a ton of swing and misses from right handed hitters.

The main concern with Vennaro is that he has heavy platoon splits. In some ways, the numbers so far in 2023 are hard to believe. Right handed hitters are hitting .173 against Vennaro with no walks and ten strikeouts. Lefties are hitting .273 against him with ten walks to only seven strikeouts. In many ways, there are a lot of Jake Cousins similarities with Vennaro. Cousins has also struggled with the opposite side hitters, both can be dominant when facing right handers.

In May, Vennaro was able to work around his platoon issues, as well as a pretty high walk rate, by striking out nearly 13 batters per nine innings. He was also able to keep the ball on the ground, helping him eliminate some of his free passes by way of the double play. With the way his pitches work, this type of pitching will be the key to success for Vennaro getting right handed hitters out.

Despite his ability to get through the month without much success against left handed hitters, he could really use a counter against them moving forward. Developing a changeup is something that would go a long way toward lessening the huge gap in his platoon splits. Peter Strzelecki is a great example to show how this works. Vennaro has already touched Triple-A in 2022, but he will need to continue to show improvement in order to get back there this year. His pure stuff is that of a major league reliever and the Brewers are a great organization to help him attempt to figure out some of the shortcomings.

#3 RHP - Brannon Jordan - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers - 9 G, 12.1 IP, 1-0, 0.73 ERA, 3.68 FIP, 0.65 WHIP, 4 H , 4 BB, 11 K, 1 SV.

Unranked by all publications

The Brewers ninth round selection in the 2021 draft, Jordan was seen as a relatively high floor type of pitcher who was likely to end up in the bullpen due to some command concerns. His fastball mainly sits in the 91-93 range and can get up to 95 at times. It plays very well in the zone and sometimes above the zone, due to it possessing a good amount of ride. His best pitch is his slider, which he throws in the mid-80’s. His slider has sharp movement that causes a lot of uncomfortable swings from his opponents and is his go-to pitch in strikeout situations. He throws a slower breaking ball as well, that has more of a 12-6 movement to it, used more as a “get me over” offering. He will also mix in a changeup at times that shows decent depth, but hasn’t been a super effective pitch for him and is used sparingly.

In May, Jordan was able to keep teams off the board by limiting walks and limiting hits. If you look at Jordan’s FIP, it looks a bit out of place with the others on this list. The reason it’s higher is mainly just because he wasn’t missing a ton of bats, in the way you might expect a high leverage reliever to, he struck out just under one batter per inning. Instead he got his results by missing barrels and generating weak contact. While it does cause a pitcher to be more reliant on his defense, pitching to contact can still be a very effective way to get through an outing. He used that ability to carry him to his very strong results in May.

At 24 years old, Jordan is likely going to see time in Biloxi at some point this year. That will be when we see the best The jump from High-A to Double-A is often said to be the toughest jump to make.

#2 RHP - Thyago Vieira - Nashville Sounds - 7 G, 9.2 IP, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.94 FIP, 0.62 WHIP, 4 H , 2 BB, 12 K, 1 SV.

Unranked by all publications

A minor league signing this past offseason, Vieira is a player with MLB experience as a member of the Mariners, as well as the White Sox. He had spent the last few seasons in Japan before returning stateside. A Futures Game participant in 2017, Vieira is equipped with a fastball that reaches triple digits, and a wipeout slider to go with it. In the past his command was, to put it nicely, lacking. So far in 2023 he is only walking 2.3 batters per nine innings and that will be huge for him moving forward. 

Vieira only threw two innings in April, as he joined the Sounds roster in the last week of the month. Once May began he started to get higher leverage opportunities and make regular appearances. Throwing his four seam and his two seam fastball at an average of 97.8 MPH, he uses the four seam up in the zone more and the two seam down more often. Both have generated ground balls at a 50% rate, interestingly. His slider is his go-to out pitch. It’s a very sharp breaking pitch. Not a huge sweeper, but late moving and sharp. He is getting whiffs on over half of the swings against it this season, and it was a huge part of his success in May, as shown in the video package the BrewersPD account put out recently.

Vieira is not on the 40 man roster, but his performance is trending toward warranting a look in the major league bullpen, especially if his command continues to continue down the path it is on so far in 2023.

#1 RHP - Nick Merkel - Carolina Mudcats - 6 G, 14.2 IP, 0-0, 1.84 ERA, 0.96 FIP, 0.89 WHIP, 12 H , 1 BB, 22 K, 1 SV

Unranked by all publications

Merkel is another member of the Brewers long list of independent ball signings, signed this past offseason after playing one year for the Missoula Paddleheads, following the conclusion of his college career at NAIA Central Methodist University. Standing at 6’7 and weighing in at 255 pounds, Merkel is an intimidating figure on the mound. Despite his size, he isn’t a flamethrower by any means, though not a soft tosser either. He tends to sit around 93-95 with his fastball that rides well up in the zone and gets on hitters due to the extension Merkel generates with his tall frame. Merkel also mixes in what appear to be two different breaking balls. One is more slurve-like, which seems to be used as a slider, and one is more of a 12/6 breaking ball. He mixes in a changeup as well, though it lags behind the breaking balls and doesn’t appear to be a pitch he goes to very often.

Throughout the month Merkel did a fantastic job of playing his high fastball and his 12/6 curveball off of each other. He would use the high fastball to set up the batter for a breaking ball down, or out of the zone and vice versa. It was the main plan of attack, and the stats would seem to indicate that it worked quite well. Not only was the plan a good one, the execution was near perfect. Only one walk to 22 strikeouts is quite the feat, especially for someone as tall as Merkel is. Being repetitive with one’s delivery gets more difficult at that height, as the long limbs can be tough to sync up, but he appeared to be very consistent in his motion.

Not only did Merkel perform well, but he also was used in longer outings, often going three or more innings, meaning he was seeing parts of the lineup multiple times and hitters were getting more than one look at his stuff, but still could not square anything up. 

As a 24 year old, the Brewer may look to move him to High-A soon to give him a more age appropriate challenge. If his command continues to be as good as it was in May, he could be a fast mover. He possesses a lot of the traits that the Brewers like in their middle relievers.

Thanks for following along with this three part series on the Brewers minor league system. The plan is to run these every month. Repeat winners may not have as much detail each month, but we hope you learn something new each time around!

Interested in learning more about the Milwaukee Brewers' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!