Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Relievers of the Month - July 2025

This was a strong month for relievers in the Brewers system, with quite a few making a strong case.

Beginning with a few honorable mentions:

HONORABLE MENTIONS

RHP - Craig Yoho - Nashville Sounds - 7 G, 5.1 IP, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.86 FIP, 0.38 WHIP, 2 H, 0 BB, 7 K, 1 SV

RHP - Jhosep Ospino - DSL Brewers Blue - 6 G, 10.2 IP, 0-1, 2.53 ERA, 1.78 FIP, 0.94 WHIP, 7 H, 3 BB, 18 K, 1 SV

RHP - Blake Holub - Nashville Sounds - 7 G, 8.2 IP, 0-0, 1.17 ERA, 4.85 FIP, 1.57 WHIP, 5 H, 7 BB, 8 K

TOP FIVE RELIEF PITCHERS FOR JULY

#5 RHP - Justin Yeager - Biloxi Shuckers and Nashville Sounds - 9 G, 8.2 IP, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 2.51 FIP, 0.58 WHIP, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 K
Unranked by all publications

The third piece that the Brewers received in the infamous Esteury Ruiz for William Contreras and Joel Payamps trade, Yeager, was drafted in the 33rd round by the Braves in 2019.

His mid-90s fastball plays extremely well when he gets it up in the zone, due to an Induced Vertical Break that will get up to 20 inches. Yeager’s cutter has more of a short slider shape and sits in the 84-87 range with a lot of late bite to it. Both pitches have the ability to be above average or better, but they can play down at times due to his lack of commanding them to the areas of the zone where they play their best. Now that he’s in Triple-A, we do have access to public Statcast data, and TJ Stats does a great job laying it out in an easy-to-read way.

In July, Yeager was promoted to Triple A for his final four appearances and threw five scoreless innings while striking out four. Yeager finished the month on a high note by receiving his first win at the Triple-A level, after throwing one inning, allowing one hit, striking out one, and allowing an unearned run.

Now in his third season with the Brewers organization, and after a strong 2024, Yeager is on the edges of MLB. While the bullpen is a pretty crowded situation for the Brewers already, Elvis Peguero and Bryan Hudson being designated for assignment recently upped his odds of making his MLB debut in 2025, at least a little.

#4 RHP - Bryan Rivera - Carolina Mudcats - 5 G, 11 IP, 2-0, 0.00 ERA, 2.99 FIP, 0.91 WHIP, 6 H, 4 BB, 9 K
Unranked by all publications

Signed out of Nicaragua in 2022, the Brewers moved Rivera to Single A quickly last season, despite uninspiring results in the Complex League. Now in his first full season at the level, Rivera has struggled for much of the season. July was a different story.

Rivera has a four pitch mix, including a four-seam and a two-seam variation of the fastball. The fastball sits in the 92-94 MPH range and touches 96. He throws a slider in the 82-83 range, and at times will drop it as low as 78-79. He’s comfortable throwing at any time. Rivera also mixes in a mid-80’s changeup that shows flashes of being an above average pitch with quite a bit of fade on it. A pitch he uses mostly against left-handed hitters.

In July, Rivera posted an impressive whiff rate of 36%. He didn’t turn those whiffs into strikeouts as often as one might expect, but he did have hitters off balance all month. As is usually the case for Rivera, he was a multi-inning reliever multiple times over the course of the month, including a four inning appearance on July 27th, in which he did not allow any runs and struck out two batters.

Rivera is only 20 years old. Struggles are normal for a player his age in full season ball, and he shows plenty of signs of having the stuff to perform at this level. Consistency and confidence will likely be key for him as he works through a tough season, hopefully July is a sign of things to come for him.

#3 LHP - Mark Manfredi - Biloxi Shuckers - 8 G, 11.1 IP, 0-0, 1.59 ERA, 2.82 FIP, 0.79 WHIP, 5 H , 4 BB, 11 K
Unranked by all publications

The Brewers used their ninth-round pick in 2023 on this Dayton University left-hander. Manfredi was assigned to High-A Wisconsin in 2024, where he got off to a strong start but struggled with command down the stretch of the season. He did strike out 95 batters in 76 innings and showed flashes of brilliance in his long-relief role. 

His time in the Arizona Fall League did not go well, with the command issues catching up to him against higher-level offensive competition. He walked 13 in 5 1/3 inings and posted a 13.50 ERA in his time there. Manfredi’s velocity was down a couple of ticks in the AFL, and it’s possible he was just exhausted from his first full season of professional baseball. Despite his struggles, the Brewers still assigned him to Double-A Biloxi to start 2025.

Manfredi is working mostly around his fastball, which is sitting in the 93-96 MPH range and topping out at 97. His upper-80s changeup has been a big weapon for him as well, especially against right-handed hitters. He rounds out his repertoire with a slider in the mid-80s that he uses mainly in matchups with lefties, but has started using more often to hitters from the right side as well.

Manfredi’s July was highlighted by continuing to keep his walk rate in the single digits, walking 8.9% of the batters he faced, which is much better than his season long rate of 15.4%. Three of his four walks actually came in one outing, only walking one person in the other seven appearances.

Manfredi’s command is going to continue to be a linchpin for his success, but when he is in and around the zone regularly, there is not a lot of hard contact and quite a few missed bats as well. Despite a slow start, his season-long numbers are now down to a 2.81 ERA, with a 3.31 FIP. He will be a candidate for Nashville’s bullpen to begin 2026, if not earlier.

#2 RHP - Kaleb Bowman - Biloxi Shuckers - 9 G, 10.2 IP, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 2.80 FIP, 0.94 WHIP, 5 H, 3 BB, 8 K, 1 SV
Unranked by all publications

Bowman was signed out of Independent ball prior to the 2023 season and performed well at High A in 2023, followed that up with a solid performance in Double A in 2024 and after a slow start, and dealing with injury early in 2025, Bowman has been fantastic over his last 16 appearances. Including a scoreless month of July.

Bowman is equipped with a sinker that sits in the 92-93 range, and can get up to 95 MPH. The pitch can get up to 20 inches of run on it, but sits more in the 16-inch range. It is thrown from a low release height and a bit of a funky delivery. He will also throw a four-seam in the 93-94 range, touching 96, which plays up a bit better than the metrics might suggest, due to his arm angle. Rounding out the three fastball mix, Bowman also mixes in an upper-80s cutter that he’s comfortable throwing to either handed hitter. He mixes in a short slider, as well as a more often used sweeper, the sweeper being thrown in the upper-70s, while the slider is more in the 83-85 MPH range. 

He didn’t allow a run in July, and while his strikeout rate of 22.9% and whiff rate of 20.9% were both around average for the level, he limited hard contact extremely well, and did a solid job of limiting the free passes as well. He finished the month with a save in his final outing, going two innings, allowing two baserunners and striking out one.

Bowman has seen his velocity climb a couple of miles per hour this season, and has an interesting five pitch mix. At 28, he is old for the level, but with his stuff ticking up, he’s a name to keep an eye on moving forward.

 #1 RHP - Abdiel Mendoza - Biloxi Shuckers - 7 G, 14.1 IP, 2-0, 0.63 ERA, 1.50 FIP, 0.63 WHIP, 8 H, 1 BB, 15 K
Unranked by all publications

The Brewers signed the 26-year-old Mendoza as a minor league free agent this past offseason, after he spent 2024 in the Blue Jays organization. The right-hander has been in Double A for the entire 2025 season, and after some struggles early on, had a very strong July.

Mendoza’s two-seam fastball sits in the 92-94 MPH range and can get up to around 19 inches of run on the pitch. He throws an 86-88 MPH cutter, as well as a lower-80s slider that has been one of his best pitches for generating whiffs. Mendoza also adds a changeup in the mid-80s that has been a solid weapon for him against left-handed hitters. He rounds out the repertoire with his upper-70s curveball that can blend with the slider shape at times, but when it’s going well has more depth than the slider does. It’s a true five pitch mix out of the bullpen.

In July, Mendoza continued to build upon a strong June. He did a great job limiting free passes, only walking one batter and hitting one other. He struck out over 28.8% of batters he faced, and he was able to generate whiffs on 28% of swings. Mendoza worked more than one inning in all but one of his appearances, and worked three innings twice. His best outing of the month came on July 18th, when he struck out five over three scoreless innings, only allowing two baserunners, both via singles.

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